System and method for scheduling and controlling the display of media content

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods are provided herein for facilitating the scheduling and controlling the presentation of media content at one or more Venues (e.g., bars, restaurants). The scheduling and presentation is coordinated by a distributed system including a scheduling management server and a local subsystem at the Venue. The system is also configured to receive information from remote devices including electronic media guides as well as user devices enabling venue managers or the public to interact with the system. The system is configured to maintain a content presentation schedule and coordinate presentation at a Venue based on parameters obtained from remote devices including: the requirements of the Venue, requests from Patrons, programming available for presentation and the availability of resources at the venue (e.g., televisions). Moreover, the exemplary system is configured to implement/execute the schedule in view of the specific technological systems and requirements of the Venue&#39;s particular media presentation systems.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is related to and includes U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 62/267,519, entitled “SYSTEMS AND METHODS FORSCHEDULING AND CONTROLLING THE DISPLAY OF MEDIA CONTENT” filed Dec. 15,2015.

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to systems and methods for scheduling andcontrolling the presentation of media content, in particular, systemsand methods for scheduling and coordinating the visual presentation ofmedia content at a venue that includes a plurality of media presentationdevices.

BACKGROUND

Restaurants, sports bars, sports clubs, and recreation facilities, amongother establishments (collectively referred to as Venues), havehistorically invested in the installation of televisions, radios,Internet-enabled devices, and other audio and/or video devices andsystems in an attempt to attract Patrons based on the assumptions thatthe presentation of media content will attract Patrons to the Venue,and/or capture the attention of visiting Patrons, thereby increasing thelikelihood of Patron visits, and/or extending the average duration ofPatron visits, with the increased Patron visits and/or extended Patronvisit duration leading to increased consumption and increased Venuerevenues. Venue investments in audio video equipment, mediasubscriptions, and media libraries have risen dramatically over thecourse of the past 20 years. Sports bars and sports themed restaurantsoften have 60 or more televisions, with expensive matrix switchesinstalled to ensure that any television within the Venue can present anyprogram for which the Venue has access via their media subscriptions.Some Venues have invested in expensive content management systems in aneffort to simplify the use and/or coordination of the Venue's audioand/or video devices, media sources, and network infrastructure. ManyVenues incur significant periodic expenditures attempting to communicateto the public the details and/or scope of their Venue's audio visualsystems and/or media subscriptions in hopes that doing so will attractPatrons to their Venue.

Despite these investments in devices, network infrastructure and mediasubscriptions, and despite these periodic expenditures on marketingefforts, Venues are largely ineffective and inefficient at enablingexisting and prospective Patrons to: (a) search for and identify thefull range of specific media content an individual Venue intends topresent for the upcoming two weeks; (b) search for and identify the fullrange of specific media content an individual Venue is capable ofpresenting for the upcoming two weeks; (c) search for and identifyVenues that are willing and able to present media content that meets thePatron's interests; (d) create a reservation to enjoy specified mediacontent via a Venue's device where the specified media content will bepresented at a specified date and time during the upcoming two weeks;(e) other benefits for Patrons as described herein.

Additionally, despite these investments in devices, networkinfrastructure and media subscriptions, and despite these periodicexpenditures on marketing efforts, Venues are largely ineffective andinefficient at: (a) developing detailed media content presentationschedules for their devices for the upcoming period; (b) automating thepresentation of any and all scheduled media content on the respectivedevices for the upcoming period; (c) making the detailed media contentschedules for the upcoming period available for discovery by prospectiveand existing Patrons; (d) enabling existing and prospective Patrons tointeract with the Venue's media content presentation schedules in such afashion that the Venue can determine which media content is of interestto existing and prospective Patrons; (e) other benefits for Venues asdescribed herein.

Restaurants and bars often have subscriptions to specialized contentpackages that most individuals would not have at home, such as televisedsports packages that are specific to one or more related sports orgenres of content, so most Patrons will not have detailed knowledge ofthe content options available at a Venue without inquiring with theVenue directly. Therefore, it is also highly unlikely that a Patron willbe able to accurately predict which of the unknown content would beappealing in the moment.

In cases where a prospective Patron is at home or out and about and hasa specific event, program, or genre of media content in mind, theprospective Patron often doesn't know which Venues in the area arecurrently presenting or planning to present that content on theirdevices. The prospective Patron could use a telephone to call individualsports bars and restaurants until the Patron connects with a bar orrestaurant staff person who has the time, ability and willingness toinvestigate whether the Venue's content subscriptions and devices arecapable of supporting, and available to present the Patron's requestedevent, program, or genre of media content, and rely on that Venuerepresentative to make a note regarding the Patron's requested programcontent and the Venue representative's agreement with the Patron topresent the requested program content if and when the requesting Patronarrives at the Venue, and hope that all other Venue staff will read andbe willing and able to honor the note, but that's an inefficient andineffective process for both the prospective Patron and the Venue staff.The prospective Patron could also visit each Venue until he identifies aVenue that is capable of, and willing to present the content in which heis interested, and request that the Venue agree to present the contentwhen it is broadcasted, streamed, or otherwise made available, andeither stay at the Venue until the content is presented, or leave theVenue and return to the Venue on the date and at the time at which thecontent is due to be presented, and hope that the Venue representativespresent at the Venue on that date and at that time are willing and ableto honor the agreement to present the requested media content, butthat's inefficient and ineffective as well. As a result, the prospectivePatron often ends up doing something else. Ergo, the prospective Patronis not as happy, and a sports bar or restaurant in the area loses theprospective Patron's business.

Despite the fact that a sports bar might have 60 or more televisions,each of which could present one of several hundred simultaneously airingprograms, there is no internet or telephone-based system that enablesexisting and prospective Patrons of restaurants and sports bars tosearch for a television program by genre, name, date, time and locationsuch that the prospective Patron can reliably plan to view one or moretelevision programs at a particular restaurant or sports bar.

Generally speaking, sports bars have multiple media sources, which mayinclude a combination of cable, satellite, and/or Internet sources. Eachmedia source can generally support the presentation of one program at atime, so if there are 8 media sources, there can be a maximum of 8concurrent television programs presented across the sports bar'stelevisions. Many sports bars have in excess of 50 televisions. Channelchanging and media-source-to-television mapping is generally performedmanually and usually in real time. There are no records capturedregarding the sports bar's planned program schedule, actual programspresented, the number of Patrons watching a specific program, food andbeverage consumption by program, or Patron-specific data, includingPatrons' preferences regarding program content, beverage choice, foodchoice, price elasticity, etc.

In most cases, the Venue's staff decides which programs are shown on aVenue's televisions. There are several problems with this approach. Thepublic as a whole is not attending a specific sports bar, but ratherindividuals are attending a specific sports bar, and individuals haveindividual interests and preferences that differ widely from the publictaken as a whole. If sports bars give their Patrons the ability tochoose between all of the media content available from the sports bar'smedia subscriptions, Patrons will likely choose different programmingthan sports bar staff. Enabling Patrons to select the programmingincreases the likelihood that the Patron will be engaged by theprogramming, stay at the Venue longer, consume more of the Venue'sproduct offerings, and have a better experience. There are two mainbarriers that Patrons must overcome before they ask for a change ofmedia content.

The first, and most significant barrier, is a knowledge gap. Themajority of Patrons don't know which media content is available, so theydon't know what they can ask for. Venues do not offer their Patrons amedia content menu detailing the broad array of media content offeringsthat could be made available via the Venue's media sources andpresentation devices at any given moment. It would be much easier forthe Venue to satisfy the Patron's media content appetite if the Venuecould provide Patrons with a menu of all the current and upcoming mediacontent that the Venue can offer.

In addition, most Patrons do not have the same media subscriptionpackages that are carried by a restaurant. Also, a Patron's mediacontent appetite is sensitive to the Patron's mood, the Patron's timeavailability, the nature of the Patron's visit, and other factors thatcannot reasonably be predicted by the Venue's staff. Because mostPatrons don't know their options, they take the path of least resistanceand watch the programs the restaurant's staff chose. If a Patron isn'tall that interested in those programs, he/she is less engaged, leavessooner, and consumes less.

The second barrier is the avoidance of social debt. Individuals aregenerally hesitant to incur the social debt associated with askingrestaurant staff to perform tasks without compensation and/or outsidethe scope of the staffs generally defined duties. Asking restaurantstaff to search for content or change the channel takes the staff awayfrom their clearly defined duties, exposes the requesting Patron topossible scorn or ridicule by other Patrons and staff and has thepotential to upset other Patrons. Not surprisingly, most Patrons won'task for a change of television programming even if they know thespecific program and channel they want to watch. This is especially truefor female Patrons. This is costing restaurants and bars money. Forregular Patrons, the social debt issue isn't all that significant, butfor new or infrequent Patrons, social debt is a real issue. And it's thepreferences of new and infrequent Patrons that Venue staff are leastlikely to know, and most important to satisfy, as those Patrons are theleast comfortable. Getting those Patrons engaged and comfortable willtend to increase the length of their stay and the quantity of theirconsumption.

Venue owners invest in specialized employee training efforts to ensurethat some Venue employees are available to operate the Venue's complexcontent management system. Employee turnover in the restaurant industryis relatively high, as is absenteeism. The complexity of the contentmanagement systems combined with employee turnover and absenteeism causerestaurants to incur unreasonably high costs, while the training effortssimultaneously fail to address the issues of the Patron's knowledge gapand the Patron's preference to avoid social debt.

Variety is the spice of life. It's also very effective at keepingPatrons engaged and increasing restaurant revenues. Currently, changingchannels frequently in an effort to show a wide variety of programs is atime consuming, challenging process that's difficult to coordinate. Byenabling restaurant staff to see an entire day's worth of mediaprogramming, build and view schedules for individual presentationdevices, view schedules for all of the Venue's devices in a singlechart, and filter the available content by type, genre, sport, team,league, and live events vs pre-recorded, and by automating the mediasource tuning management, network routing management, and device inputmanagement based on the Venue's media presentation schedules, thesystems and methods disclosed herein make it easy for restaurant staffto maximize the allocation of Patron-desired media content presented onthe Venue's devices, thereby enabling the Venue to deliver a muchbroader array of media content via the same media presentation devices,and enabling the Venue to satisfy a much broader selection of Patrons'media content interests.

Although system's exist in the area of providing media content toPatrons at a Venue, those systems have limitations. For example, currentcable television and satellite programming provider systems do not allownon-subscribers or unrelated third parties to schedule programs, nor dothese systems allow unrelated third parties to view and filter thefuture program schedules for collections or cross-sections of theirsubscribers. Imagine a Patron has identified three local Venues to whichthe Patron is considering visiting, and each Venue has a collection ofmedia subscriptions and services. There is currently no single systemavailable that: (a) allows the Patron to view what media content each ofthe three Venues is planning to present on a specified future date andat a specified time; (b) allows the Patron to identify which of theVenues has a media content subscription package that includes a specificupcoming program; (c) allows the Patron to identify which of the Venueshas a media content subscription package that includes a specificupcoming program and has unclaimed media presentation capacity to allowhim to enjoy the specified program without interfering with the Venue'spreviously scheduled media content presentation plans; (d) allows thePatron to request the presentation of a specific program on a Venue'spresentation device; (e) automatically schedules the requested mediacontent to be presented on a specific device and provides the Patronwith a confirmation that the content has been scheduled and will bepresented on a specific device at the specified Venue at a specifiedtime on a specified date.

There exist restaurant reservation systems with which Patrons canreserve a table at a restaurant, securing a time and location for ameal. However, such systems are limited as Patrons cannot use thesesystems to schedule the presentation of media content to coincide andco-locate with their table reservation. Nor do there exist contentmanagement systems that are configured to integrate with reservationsystems.

There exist theater ticket systems with which a Patron can reserve aticket to watch a movie on a specified date, and at a specified time andlocation. However, these systems have limited use and functionality asfurther described herein. A Patron can only select from the list ofshows and show times that the theater has scheduled and published. ThePatron cannot search a list of available shows that, though available,have not been scheduled for presentation by the theater, andsubsequently submit a request for the unscheduled content and receive anautomated response including a reservation for the presentation of therequested content. A large theater might have ten or more individualviewing rooms, with each viewing room presenting five to eight movieseach day, for a maximum total of perhaps 100 movies per day. Bycontrast, a large spots bar might have 60 or more televisions, with eachtelevision capable of showing twenty television programs per day, for amaximum total of perhaps 1000 television programs per day. The theaterreservation (ticket) generally allows the Patron to enter one viewingroom for the duration of a single movie presentation, and individualmovies are generally presented in closed viewing rooms, therebyprecluding theater patrons from using a single reservation to watchmultiple movies concurrently. By contrast, a Patron of a sports bar mayenjoy media content presented on a variety of audio and video devicesconcurrently. The theater ticket is generally not transferrable to allowthe Patron to watch a different movie being aired at the same time, andthe theater reservation (ticket) is for a specified beginning and endtime, not for an open ended ‘visit’. By contrast, a Patron who visits arestaurant to eat dinner might become interested in a baseball gamebeing presented on one video device and, having reached the conclusionof the baseball game, or having become disinterested in the baseballgame, subsequently decide to focus attention on a golf match beingpresented on a different video device. Or the restaurant Patron mightopt to enjoy both the baseball game and the golf match concurrently. Atheater reservation (ticket) does not allow the Patron to reserve ashowing of the 3rd and 4th hour of a 4-hour program, such as a golfmatch, leaving the presentation hardware (a viewing room and associatedprojection equipment in the case of a theater), free to be used by otherPatrons for the beginning two hours of the program. By contrast, it isreasonable for a Patron to arrange with a restaurant to arrive at therestaurant with the express intent of watching the final two hours of agolf match, and for the restaurant to present other content to otherPatrons using the same television during the first two hours of the golfmatch. A theater ticket doesn't generally afford the theater the optionof changing the content to appease other Patrons if the ticket holderfails to appear at the Venue in accordance with the reservationagreement. By contrast, the reservation system described herein allowsthe restaurant to establish general reservation rules (for example, thePatron must arrive 10 minutes before show time, or be present when theshow starts, or arrive within the first 10 minutes of the show'sairing), or specific rules for specific programs (for example, Patronsmight be allowed to arrive within the first hour of any program that isscheduled to last more than 3 hours.) Patrons arriving 40 minutes intothe showing of a 3-hour movie at a theater are considered disruptive toother moviegoers. Patrons arriving 40 minutes into the showing of a3-hour sports broadcast at a sports bar are de rigueur.

There exist content management systems, some of which allow restaurantstaff to change channels on televisions via a network, therebyeliminating the need for remote controls. These systems do not, however,allow restaurant staff and outside Patrons to schedule extended periodsworth of television programs on every television for future viewing, nordo they associate television reservations with individual Patrons andintegrate with other systems such as table reservation systems.

It is with respect to these and other considerations that the disclosuremade herein is presented. A non-exhaustive list of the issues addressedby the exemplary embodiments of the invention disclosed herein are asfollows:

1. For organizations whose business model relies on the use of multiplepresentation devices fed by multiple media sources to satisfy theirPatrons' media content interests, there is no commercially availablesolution that enables the organization to:

(a) schedule media content for multiple presentation devices fed bymultiple media sources and be able to maintain, update and share themedia presentation schedule(s) internally;

(b) make the media presentation schedule(s) discoverable and searchableby the public via an Internet browser, software system, mobile device orapp;

(c) automate the issuance of tuning instructions to multiple mediasources based on a single consolidated media presentation schedule orcollection of media presentation schedules;

(d) capture and respond to media presentation requests submitted byprospective and/or current Patrons, automatically updating theconsolidated media presentation schedule visible to Venue staff andcurrent and prospective Patrons;

(e) collect and report on current and/or prospective Patrons' mediacontent interests, thereby supporting proactive media scheduling andadvertising, and proactive interactions with current and prospectivePatrons;

(f) relate Patrons' program interests to point-of-sale records, therebysupporting analyses of food and beverage consumption as related to mediacontent, the effectiveness of advertising as it relates to specificmedia content, market penetration by product by media content, etc.

(g) review the Venue's upcoming media presentation schedules toaccurately predict patronage highs and lows, accurately plan food andbeverage inventories, and proactively schedule special offers to lurePatrons during predicted periods of low patronage;

2. For Patrons whose interests include enjoying audio and/or video mediaand/or socializing while audio and/or video media are being presented,there is no commercially available solution that enables the Patron to:

(a) search, sort and/or filter an electronic program guide/interactiveprogram guide to identify media content programming that matches thePatron's interests, and identify the date and time the media contentwill be presented, and match that information with the location ofVenue(s) that have scheduled to present the specific media content orhave the ability to present the specific media content, based on theVenue's operating hours, media presentation schedules, audio/videonetwork configuration(s), presentation device availability, and mediasubscriptions;

(b) submit an electronic request for the presentation of specified mediacontent and receive an automated confirmation and associatedreservation, or a rejection from the selected Venue;

(c) use their mobile device while in a Venue to request and achieve achange of media content being presented via the Venue's presentationdevices;

(d) coordinate their visit to a Venue with other Patrons, includingreserving seating, scheduling media presentations on the Venue'spresentation devices, and coordinating invitations, acceptances,rejections, etc.;

(e) receive coordinated alerts, updates, and offers from Venues, contentproviders, teams, leagues, the beverage industry, and other relatedparties based on the Patron's stated preferences and historicalbehaviors;

(f) search for and identify a Venue or list of Venues that havescheduled to present specific media content or have the ability topresent specific media content, and that simultaneously offer specificfood and/or beverage options that meet the Patron's interests, i.e.specific beer on draft, specific beer in a bottle, type of beer (IPA,stout, pilsner, etc.), beer price, special pricing, special beverageoffers, vegetarian food options, barbecue, etc.

3. For the beverage industry, there is no solution that enables theindustry to:

(a) analyze directly, and in real time, the relationships betweenprogramming content, user consumption, pricing, special offers,location, Patrons' media content preferences and historical behavior,advertising, and other factors;

(b) analyze the relationships between a selected Patron's social networkstatus, media content consumption in a specified Venue or Venues, andbeverage consumption;

(c) analyze network effects involving their beverages;

(d) analyze the effectiveness of their sponsorship arrangements with,and advertising campaigns related to specific sports, teams, leagues,market segments, locations, geographic regions, and Venues.

4. For teams, there is no commercially available solution that enablesteams to:

(a) get more detailed information regarding people who visit sports barsand/or restaurants with the express intent of enjoying media contentrelated to their team, league and/or sport;

(b) analyze the effectiveness of their sponsor relationships with thebeverage industry;

(c) identify, in advance, Venues at which large numbers of their fans ortheir competition's fans plan to enjoy media content that relates totheir team, league and/or sport, thereby enabling teams to proactivelyengage Venues and Patrons.

5. For television networks and other media content providers, there isno product that enables television networks and media content providersto:

(a) analyze directly, and in real time, the relationships betweenprogramming content, user consumption, pricing, special offers,location, geographic region, Patron content preferences and historicalbehavior, advertising, and other factors;

(b) analyze the relationships between a selected Patron's social networkstatus, media content consumption in a specified Venue or Venues, andconsumption of advertised products and services;

(c) analyze network effects related to advertisements;

(d) analyze the effectiveness of advertising campaigns related tospecific sports, teams, leagues, and market segments.

6. For content carriers (for example, DirectTV, Comcast, etc.), there iscurrently no product or solution that enables content carriers to:

(a) obtain and analyze details regarding Venues' Patrons' media contentrequests and populations served;

(b) obtain and analyze details regarding which Venues intend to showwhich television content up to two weeks prior to the airing of thecontent.

The systems and methods disclosed herein address each of the aboveissues and other considerations. The details of one or moreimplementations are set forth in the accompanying drawings and thedescription below. Other features and advantages will be apparent fromthe description and drawings, and from the claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a high-level diagram illustrating an exemplary configurationof a system for scheduling and controlling the display of media contentin accordance with one or more of the disclosed embodiments;

FIG. 2 is a high-level diagram illustrating an exemplary configurationof the system for scheduling and controlling the display of mediacontent in accordance with one or more of the disclosed embodiments;

FIG. 3A-3D are flow diagrams that illustrate exemplary methods forscheduling and controlling the display of media content in accordancewith one or more of the disclosed embodiments;

FIG. 4A-4B are flow diagrams that illustrate exemplary methods forscheduling and controlling the display of media content in accordancewith one or more of the disclosed embodiments;

FIG. 5A-5B are diagrams illustrating exemplary graphical user interfacesin accordance with one or more of the disclosed embodiments; and

FIG. 6A-6B are flow diagrams that illustrate exemplary methods forscheduling and controlling the display of media content in accordancewith one or more of the disclosed embodiments.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Technologies are presented herein in support of a system and method forscheduling and controlling the presentation of media content at a venue.According to a first aspect, a computer-implemented method forscheduling and controlling the presentation of media content at a venueis provided, wherein the venue has media devices including one or moremedia source devices connected to one or more media presentation devicesvia one or more of a communications network connection, a cable-basedcommunications channel, a satellite-based communications channel and aradio-based communications channel. The method comprises, receiving at aschedule management server, electronic programming data including a listof media content items that are available for presentation at the venue,a respective media source and any respective time-periods for each ofthe media content items. Also received at the schedule management serveris venue data including information identifying the one or more mediasource devices. It should be noted that the one or more media sourcedevices are configured to provide media content received from arespective media source to one or more media presentation devices foroutput. The method also includes the step of providing a venue controlmodule. The venue control module is one or more of: a device and asoftware module configured to communicate with the one or more mediadevices via one or more of: a communications network connection, acable-based communications channel, a satellite-based communicationschannel and a radio-based communications channel, and wherein the venuecontrol module is one or more of a device and a software module;maintaining, with the schedule management server based on the electronicprogramming data and the venue data, a venue programming scheduleidentifying scheduled media content items for presentation at the venueduring respective time periods and communicate with the server via oneor more of a communications network connection, a cable-basedcommunications channel, a satellite-based communications channel and aradio-based communications channel. The venue control module is one ormore of: a device and a software module. The method further includes thestep of maintaining, with the server based on the electronic programmingdata and the venue data, a venue programming schedule identifyingscheduled media content items for presentation at the venue duringrespective time periods. The method also includes the step ofgenerating, according to the venue programming schedule, controlinstructions that cause one or more of the media devices at the venue tooutput the scheduled media content items at the venue during respectivetime periods. According to the method, the control instructions aregenerated by one or more of the schedule management server based on thevenue data and the venue control module based on venue settingsconcerning a configuration of the media devices at the venue. The methodalso includes the step of providing the control instructions at thevenue control module. In addition, the method includes the step ofissuing, by the venue control module according to the controlinstructions, control parameters to one or more of the media devices,wherein the control parameters cause one or more of the media devices totransition to a respective state that is suitable for presenting aparticular scheduled media content item at the venue at a respectiveexecution time.

According to another aspect, a system is provided for scheduling andcontrolling the presentation of media content at a venue having one ormore media devices including media presentation devices and one or moremedia source devices. The one or more media source devices areconfigured to provide media content received from a respective mediasource to one or more of the media presentation devices for output. Thesystem includes a schedule management server comprising: a processor, anon-transitory computer readable storage medium and one or more softwaremodules in the form of encoded instructions that are executable by theprocessor.

In addition, the software modules include a communications module thatconfigures the schedule management server to receive electronicprogramming data and venue data from one or more remote computingdevices via one or more of a communications network connection, acable-based communications channel, a satellite-based communicationschannel and a radio-based communications channel. The electronicprogramming data includes a list of media content items that areavailable for presentation at the venue, a respective media source andany respective time-periods for each of the media content items. Inaddition, the venue data includes information identifying the one ormore media source devices at the venue. The software modules alsoinclude a scheduling module that configures the schedule managementserver to maintain, based on the electronic programming data and thevenue data, a venue programming schedule identifying scheduled mediacontent items for presentation at the venue during respective timeperiods. The software modules also include a content change manager thatconfigures the schedule management server to transmit content changeinstructions based on the venue programming schedule via one or more ofa communication network connection, a cable-based communicationschannel, a satellite-based communications channel and a radio-basedcommunications channel.

The system further includes a venue control module for automaticallycoordinating the output of the scheduled media content items at thevenue during respective time periods according to the venue programmingschedule. The venue control module is configured to communicate with oneor more of the media devices at the venue via one or more of acommunications network connection, a cable-based communications channel,a satellite-based communications channel and a radio-basedcommunications channel and communicate with the schedule managementserver via one or more of: a communications network connection, acable-based communications channel, a satellite-based communicationschannel and a radio-based communications channel. In addition, the venuecontrol module is further configured to maintain, in a storage medium,venue settings concerning a configuration of the media devices at thevenue. The venue control module is also configured to generate,according to the received content change instructions and the venuesettings, control instructions that transition one or more of the mediadevices to a respective state that is suitable for presenting aparticular scheduled media content item at the venue at a respectiveexecution time. In addition, the venue control module is configured totransmit the control instructions to one or more of the media devicesone or more of a communications network connection, a cable-basedcommunications channel, a satellite-based communications channel and aradio-based communications channel.

These and other aspects, features, and advantages can be appreciatedfrom the accompanying description of certain embodiments of theinvention and the accompanying drawing figures and claims.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

By way of overview and introduction, distributed systems and methods areprovided herein for facilitating the scheduling and controlling thepresentation of media content at one or more Venues. Venues, for examplecan include, restaurants, sports bars, sports clubs, and recreationfacilities, among other establishments, and is often referred to hereinas a “sports bar” although this particular term should be understood tobe non-limiting. The scheduling and presentation is primarilycoordinated by a distributed system including a back-end presentationscheduling and reservation system server (often referred to as the“pubtelly” server or system server), one or more subsystems that arelocal to the Venue, and one or more subsystems that are available to thepublic. As further described herein, the system can also include one ormore additional front-end user facing devices or virtual portals thatenable Venue-level operators or the public at large (e.g., Patrons orprospective Patrons) to access and interact with the system via anetwork such as the internet. Furthermore, the system is configured tointegrate with and obtain information related to the availableprogramming from various networked third-party computing systemsassociated with content providers and related electronic programmingguide/interactive programming guide (EPG/IPG) systems.

As further described herein, scheduling and presentation is coordinatedby the back-end server in conjunction with the Venue side systems andPatron side systems, and the system is configured to manage thescheduling and presentation of content within each Venue based on avariety of parameters obtained from the remote computing devicesincluding, without limitation: the specific requirements of the Venue,requests from Patrons (e.g., one or more members of the publicirrespective of whether they are affiliated with a particular Venue),the programming available for presentation at the Venue and theavailability of content presentation resources (e.g., televisions at theVenue). Moreover, as further described herein, the exemplary mediacontent scheduling and presentation control systems and methods areconfigured to implement/execute the schedule in view of the specifictechnological systems and requirements of the Venue's particular mediapresentation systems.

The system enables Venues to schedule every program on everypresentation device in their Venue in advance (e.g., up to two weeks),and makes every media presentation in the schedule discoverable by thepublic. Additionally, the system enables the public to search for andidentify media presentations that are included in the Venues' mediasubscription(s) and request that a Venue add those programs to theirmedia presentation schedule if those media presentations are not alreadyscheduled. Moreover, the system enables the public to create areservation to enjoy one or more media presentations at a Venue. Inaddition, the reservation system enables the Venue to establish rulesregarding how long the Venue will hold the reservation. Accordingly, thesystem integrates with the Venue's reservation systems or Patron facingsocial networks to determine whether a Patron is at the Venue asspecified by a reservation (e.g., based on social network check-ins,status updates or patron device geolocation functionality) to verify thePatron has meet the reservation terms. For instance, the Patron mustarrive 10 minutes before the program starts, or be in the Venue when theprogram starts, or arrive within 15 minutes after the programs starts.By way of further example, for longer programs such as a televised golftournament, which may air for 4-6 hours, the Venue can create ad hocreservation rules. By way of further example, as Patrons may only wishto watch the final 90 minutes of a 4-hour program, the exemplary systemallows the Patron to indicate his/her expected arrival time. Unlikemovie theaters, which have a fixed content schedule and limitedofferings, the proposed systems and methods further described hereinenable Venues to update their media presentation schedules in responseto Patron requests as well as Patron conduct (e.g., purchasing withinthe establishment).

According to a salient aspect, the systems and methods described hereinare further configured to automate the implementation of the schedule inaccordance with the particular technical systems in place in the Venue.By automating channel changes, restaurant staff are freed up fromnavigating through a crowded restaurant with a remote control, changinga channel of a television that is actively being watched by otherPatrons, leaning over dining Patrons to point the remote at a mediareceiver mounted on the back of a television high up on a wall, andinadvertently changing channels on other televisions when the remote'sinfrared signal finds its way to other media receivers. Moreover, asfurther described herein, the exemplary systems and methods forcontrolling the presentation of media content provides an automatedsystem that integrates with and controls the various media sources,media management systems and presentation devices at the Venue andprovides a technical solution that algorithmically modifies, supplementsor oversees the various existing systems and processes at the Venue. Asa result, the exemplary systems and methods address significantlimitations of such existing systems including, inter alia, improvingthe operating efficiency of the existing systems, and enhancing thefeatures and functionality through coordinated control and integrationof these distributed and otherwise independent preexisting hardware andsoftware-based systems.

Exemplary System Overview

An exemplary system for scheduling and controlling the presentation ofmedia content 100 is shown as a high-level block diagram in FIG. 1. Inthis arrangement, the system 100 consists of a Patron-to-PresentationScheduling and Reservation System Server 105 (referred to herein as thesystem server and/or pubtelly server). Also shown are remote computingdevices in communication with the system server 105, over a network,including one or more Patron user computing devices 101 a-101 c, EPGprovider computing device 140, and Venue Subsystem (150, shown in FIG.2) and one or more third party user computing devices/systems 145. Itshould be understood that any of the remote computing devices depictedin FIG. 1 (or the one or more components of the system that exist withinthe Venue subsystem shown in FIG. 2) can be in direct communication withone-another or the system server 105, indirect communication withone-another or the system server 105, and/or can be communicativelycoordinated with one-another or the system server 105 through a computernetwork, such as the Internet.

Patron User Device is intended to represent various computing devicesand/or data processing apparatuses suitable to facilitate the operationof the system for scheduling and controlling the presentation of mediacontent 100, including, but not limited to, a desktop computer, laptopcomputer, tablet computer, mobile phone, or other device capable ofsupporting the operations of either connecting to the Internet, or ofsupporting the operations of the Patron App and connecting to theInternet, or of supporting the operations of the Patron Software andconnecting to the Internet. As further described herein, Patron devicecan be configured to collect information from respective Patrons,communicate the information to remote computing devices (e.g., systemserver 105, Venue subsystem) and receive information from the remotecomputing devices and display the information to respective Patron. Asshown, the Patron user devices can be executing one or more clientapplications, including a Patron application. The Patron application isa software application comprising instructions in the form of code that,when executed by the patron user device processor (not shown),configures the device to collect information from the user, and providesthe information to the system server 105 over the network in accordancewith the exemplary methods further described herein. Although the Patronapplication is discussed herein as a stand-alone software applicationexecuting on respective user devices, it can be appreciated that theapplication can be executing on one or more remote server devices thatare accessible by the user devices over a network. For instance, Patronscan interact with the various components of the system 100 via anydevice that can support a modern web browser and connect to theInternet. Alternatively, Patrons can access the Patron-to-PresentationScheduling and Reservation System via any device onto which the Patroncan install the Patron App, and which said device is capable ofoperating the Patron App and connecting to the Internet. Alternatively,Patrons can access the system 100 and interact with the variouscomponents (e.g., system server 105 or components within the Venuesubsystem 150) via any device onto which the Patron can install thePatron Software, and which said device is capable of operating thePatron Software and connecting to the Internet.

As would be understood by those in the art, Electronic Program Guides(EPGs) and Interactive Program Guides (IPGs) are menu-based systems thatprovide users of television, radio and other media applications withcontinuously updated (menus displaying broadcast programming orscheduling information for current and upcoming programming.Non-interactive electronic program guides (sometimes known as“navigation software”) are typically available for television and radio,and consist of a digitally displayed, non-interactive menu of programscheduling information shown by a cable or satellite television providerto its viewers on a dedicated channel. EPGs are transmitted byspecialized video character generation (CG) equipment housed within eachsuch provider's central headend facility. By tuning into an EPG channel,a menu is displayed that lists current and upcoming television programson all available channels. A more modern form of the EPG, associatedwith both television and radio broadcasting, is the interactive[electronic] program guide (IPG, though often referred to as EPG). AnIPG allows television viewers and radio listeners to navigate schedulinginformation menus interactively, selecting and discovering programmingby time, title, channel or genre using an input device such as a keypad,computer keyboard or television remote control. Its interactive menusare generated entirely within local receiving or display equipment usingraw scheduling data sent by individual broadcast stations or centralizedscheduling information providers. A typical IPG provides informationcovering a span of seven or fourteen days.

EPG Provider System 140 is intended to represent one or more computingsystems that are associated with EPG or IPG providers, for instance, anElectronic Program Guide/Interactive Program Guide Provider. AnElectronic Program Guide/Interactive Program Guide Provider isthird-party listings metadata aggregator that collects television orradio broadcast program information in a database, and may, at itsdiscretion, update, modify, or otherwise change the content associatedwith the program information, including but not limited to, thedescription, tagging, and inclusion of individual programs in theEPG/IPG, and subsequently makes the EPG/IPG available to third partiesin any of a variety of formats and or forms, including but not limitedto XML, JSON, character delimited text, database, text, fax, Telex,Teletype, electronic download, application program interface (“API”),other electronic means, and/or via physical distribution in the form ofcompact disc, portable recording device, etc.

Data used to populate an EPG/IPG may be distributed over the Internet,via physical delivery in the form of compact disc, cassette, writabledigital media, portable recording device, USB stick, paper, or othermeans, either for a charge or free of charge, and implemented on acomputing system (e.g., EPG Provider System 140) connected directly orthrough a computer to the Internet.

Overview of the Venue Subsystem

FIG. 2 is a block diagram depicting the Venue Subsystem 150. As shown,the Venue Subsystem 150 can include one or more computing devicestypically located at a Venue for providing audio and/or video content toPatrons at the Venue and facilitating the systems and methods forscheduling and controlling the presentation of media content inaccordance with one or more of the disclosed embodiments. A Venue can beany public or private space, including businesses, homes, kiosks,gymnasiums, restaurants, bars, clubhouses, airports, stadiums, publicgathering places, in which a presentation device is located. Preferablythe various devices that comprise the Venue subsystem are networked viaone or more data communications networks and one or more of the Venuesubsystem components including, preferably, the Widget and/or, arecommunicatively coupled to at least the system server 105 via theInternet, local or wide area network and the like.

In particular, the Venue subsystem can include one or more Media Sources155, or be connected to one or more Media Sources via a cable ornetwork, or be capable of receiving content from one or more broadcastMedia Sources. Media Sources may provide media content via radiofrequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables or lightpulses through fiber-optic cables, or received via radio wavestransmitted over the air, or via other means for output by one or moreof the presentation devices at the Venue. For example, a Venue may havea satellite telecommunications receiver (for example, a Dish Network orDirecTV satellite dish) or cable telecommunications receiver (forexample, a Comcast or Netfinity receiver or integrated receiver and DVRsystem), telecommunications signal distribution network, one or morematrix switches, one or more signal splitters, one or more coaxialcables, one or more CAT5 or CAT6 cables, one or more Internet modems,one or more routers, one or more audio presentation systems (forexample, a stereophonic receiver with associated amplifier and speakers,or a public address systems), one or more visual presentation systems(for example, a television screen, or a video monitor, or a videoprojector), a local area network (for example, a wired network or WIFInetwork including requisite signal processing hardware and software).

Also shown is a Widget computing device 160, which comprises one or morehardware and/or software applications operating on a hardware devicecapable of connecting to the system server 105 over a network (e.g.,directly or indirectly via a local/wide area network and/or theInternet), receiving signals from the system server 105, interpretingand processing those signals as necessary, and in turn, generating andcommunicating appropriate commands directly or indirectly to designatedmedia presentation devices within the Venue and other venue devices suchas the Media Management System 170.

The Widget can be a physical device capable of establishing andmaintaining a connection to a network, receiving and decrypting anencrypted program change request from the Program Change Manager(further described herein), converting the program change request to aformat that can be understood by the Media Management System 170 withinthe Venue, and communicating the program change request to the MediaManagement System. The communication to the Media Management Systemmight be in the form of a JSON request, infrared signal, visiblewavelength signal, Bluetooth communication, RF signal, audio signal, orother communication protocol.

In some implementations, the Widget could be a desktop computer, laptopcomputer, tablet computer, mobile phone, Arduino, or other programmablehardware device capable of executing the various functions furtherdescribed herein. In some implementations, the Widget can be astandalone device specifically provided to the Venue for integration ofthe existing Venue devices with the system 100. In addition, oralternatively, the Widget can be provided as a software-based virtualcontrol module for executing and operating on an existing computingdevice at the Venue (e.g., media management system 170) and therebyconfiguring the existing computing device to implement the variousfeatures and functions of the Widget, as further described herein.Alternatively, the Widget may be a physical or virtual device executingand operating outside of the Venue and outside of the Venue's local areanetwork, but interacting with a Venue-side control device, for instance;the Media Management System inside the Venue's local area network.

In operation, for example, the system server 105 may transmit to theWidget a command to tune a specified media presentation device 190, orits controller, to a specified channel on a specified date and at aspecified time, in response to which the Widget converts the channelchange request (e.g., as received from the Patron-to-PresentationScheduling and Reservation System) to a format recognizable andunderstood by the particular media presentation device or itscontroller, and subsequently transmits the channel change commanddirectly to the media presentation device or its controller (forexample, the Widget may issue a JSON request to a media receiver via aWIFI network, causing said media receiver to switch channels, in turncausing a television screen configured to receive media from said mediareceiver to display video and/or audio content as broadcasted on thechannel specified by the channel change request), or indirectly to themedia presentation device or its controller (for example, the Widget mayissue a TCP/IP command to an infrared signal processor, causing saidinfrared signal processor to generate an infrared signal which is, inturn, transmitted to a media receiver, causing said media receiver toswitch channels, in turn causing a television screen configured toreceive media from said media receiver to display video and/or audiocontent as broadcasted on the channel specified by the channel changerequest).

Venue Devices 180 a-180 c are intended to represent various computingdevices and/or data processing apparatuses suitable to facilitate theoperation of the Patron-to-Presentation Scheduling and ReservationSystem, in particular, the Venue-side features and operations. Forinstance, Venue User Devices can include computing devices operated byVenue staff to set-up and control the particular manner of operation ofthe system 100 at the Venue. By way of further example, Venue UserDevices can also be computing devices (e.g. tablet devices) providedthroughout the Venue for the benefit of Patrons thereby enabling thePatrons to interact with the system 100, e.g., in a similar manner to aPatron User Device. Venue Users can access the system 100 via any devicethat can support a modern web browser and connect to the Internet.Alternatively, Venue Users can access the invention via any device ontowhich the Venue User can install the Venue App, and which said device iscapable of operating the Venue App and connecting to the Internet.Alternatively, Venue Users can access the invention via any device ontowhich the Venue User can install the Venue Software, and which saiddevice is capable of operating the Venue Software and connecting to theInternet. Venue User Devices can include for example and withoutlimitation, a desktop computer, laptop computer, tablet computer, mobilephone, or other device capable of supporting the operations of eitherconnecting to the Internet, the Venue's LAN or WAN, or of supporting theoperations of the Venue App and connecting to the Internet, or ofsupporting the operations of the Venue Software and connecting to theInternet.

Presentation Device 190 is intended to represent any device capable ofpresenting visual and/or audio content such as televisions, speakersystems, and other such media output devices (also referred to as adisplay or audio device). As would be understood by those in the art, apresentation device can include an output device for the display ofvisual or audio information. Said devices may include one or more signalamplifiers and/or signal processors, visual screens or audio speakers.It can be appreciated that presentation devices can be coupled tovarious media sources 155 directly or indirectly via media managementsystem 170 and can include various associated controller devices thatare not networked.

The Media Management System 170 can be any configuration of hardware,software and networking components necessary to control the selectionand presentation of a video and/or audio signal on a display or audiodevice. Common elements might include a set top box, a matrix switch, orother media management device that controls the content presented on thedisplay or audio device as would be understood by those in the art.

Further Description of the System Server 105

As shown in FIG. 1, the system server 105 is arranged with varioushardware and software components that serve to enable operation of thesystem for scheduling and controlling the presentation of media content100, including a processor 110, a memory 120, storage 135 and acommunication interface 150. The processor 110 serves to executesoftware instructions that can be loaded into the memory 120. Theprocessor 110 can be a number of processors, a multi-processor core, orsome other type of processor, depending on the particularimplementation. A communication interface 150 is also operativelyconnected to the processor 110 and can be any interface that enablescommunication between the system server 105 and external devices,machines and/or elements. Preferably, the communication interface 150includes, but is not limited to, a modem, a Network Interface Card(NIC), an integrated network interface, a radio frequencytransmitter/receiver (e.g., Bluetooth, cellular, NFC), a satellitecommunication transmitter/receiver, an infrared port, a USB connection,and/or any other such interfaces for connecting system server 105 toother computing devices and/or communication networks, such as privatenetworks and the Internet. Such connections can include a wiredconnection or a wireless connection (e.g., using the IEEE 802.11standard) though it should be understood that communication interface150 can be practically any interface that enables communication to/fromthe system server 105. It should be understood that any of the remotecomputing devices depicted in FIG. 1 and Venue subsystem 150 can be indirect communication with one-another or the system server 105, indirectcommunication with one-another or the system server 105, and/or can becommunicatively coordinated with one-another or the system server 105through a computer network, such as the Internet.

Preferably, the memory 120 and/or the storage 135 are accessible by theprocessor 110, thereby enabling the processor 110 to receive and executeinstructions stored on the memory 120 and/or on the storage 190. Thememory 120 can be, for example, a random access memory (RAM) or anyother suitable volatile or non-volatile computer readable storagemedium. In addition, the memory 120 can be fixed or removable. Thestorage 190 can take various forms depending on the particularimplementation. For example, the storage 190 can contain one or morecomponents or devices such as a hard drive, a flash memory, a rewritableoptical disk, a rewritable magnetic tape, or some combination of theabove. The storage 190 also can be fixed or removable or remote such ascloud based data storage systems.

Various databases can also be stored on the storage. Such databases cancontain and/or maintain various data items and elements that areutilized throughout the various operations of the system 100. It shouldalso be noted that, although database 185 is depicted as beingconfigured locally to system server 105, in certain implementations,database 185 and/or various of the data elements stored therein can belocated remotely, such as on a remote device or server (not shown), andconnected to system server 105 through a network in a manner known tothose of ordinary skill in the art. In addition, it should be noted thatother information and/or data relevant to the operation of the presentsystems and methods can also be stored on the storage 135, as will bediscussed in greater detail herein.

The one or more software modules 130 can be encoded in the storage 190and/or in the memory 120. The software modules 130 can comprise one ormore software programs or applications having computer program code or aset of instructions executed in the processor 110 and that configure theprocessor to perform the various operations for scheduling andcontrolling the presentation of media content as further describedherein. Such computer program code or instructions for carrying outthese operations can be written in any combination of one or moreprogramming languages. The program code can execute entirely on thesystem server 105, partly on the system server 105, as a stand-alonesoftware package, partly on the system server 105 and partly on a remotecomputer/device such as the Widget (as shown in FIG. 2) or entirely onthe remote computers/devices. In the latter scenario, the remotecomputer systems can be connected to the system server 105 through anytype of network, including a local area network (LAN) or a wide areanetwork (WAN), or the connection can be made to the external computer(for example, through the Internet using an Internet Service Provider).

It can also be said that the program code of the software modules 130and one or more of the non-transitory computer readable storage devices(such as the memory 120 and/or the storage 190) form a computer programproduct that can be manufactured and/or distributed in accordance withthe present disclosure, as is known to those of ordinary skill in theart. It should be understood that in some illustrative embodiments, oneor more of the software modules 130 can be downloaded over a network tothe storage from another device or system via communication interface150 for use within the system 100. Although the various “manager” and“server” components depicted in FIG. 1 as software modules 130 and arefurther described herein as “managers,” “modules” or “server”components, it can be appreciated that the features and functionality ofsuch components can, in some configurations, be implemented in softwareexecuting on the system server 105. However, in addition oralternatively, one or more of these components can be implemented in oneor more computing devices that are independent of the system server 105.

The various modules 130 (e.g., manager and server components) andcorresponding database elements of the system server 105 are furtherdescribed herein with continued reference to FIGS. 1 and 2.

The Profile Manager enables Venues, Patrons, and other related parties,including advertisers, content providers, network providers, third-partyentities (e.g. beverage supply companies), to register as users of thesystem and to enter and maintain information relevant to their use of,involvement with, and/or contractual relationship with the system and/orproviders of the system and/or other parties using the system and/orother parties providing products and/or services to or via the system100. The Profile Manager enables Venues, Patrons and other relatedparties to specify information relevant to their use of and/orinvolvement with the system. For example, a Venue might provideinformation including but not limited to details regarding eachpresentation device under its control, details regarding each source ofprogram content to which the Venue has access, the physical location ofthe Venue, the maximum seating and standing capacity of the Venue,details regarding the network infrastructure in use at the Venue, theusername and password of each of the Venue's users, the role and accessrights of each of the Venue's users, the Venue's preferred content, theVenue's restricted or excluded content, the Venue's operating hours, theVenue's primary and alternate contacts, the Venue's billing and paymentinformation, details regarding the Venue's Point of Sale system(s),details regarding the Venue's seating reservation system(s), the Venue'srules regarding reservations, details regarding the Venue's food andbeverage offerings, and other information as necessitated to support theaccurate listing, scheduling and reservation of content ontopresentation devices.

The EPG Cache Server is programmed to poll, on a periodic basis, theProfile Manager to identify which EPG/IPG content should be requestedfrom the EPG/IPG Provider System 140. Based on the query, the EPG CacheServer submits appropriate EPG/IPG requests to the EPG/IPG Provider,receives EPG/IPG data from the EPG/IPG Provider, and stores the receivedEPG/IPG data in the EPG/IPG Database. As a result, the EPG Cache Serveris configured to tailor the requests to the EPG Provider Database to thespecific Venue profiles managed by the Profile manager so as to onlyrequest and maintain EPG data that is relevant to the profiles undermanagement.

The EPG/IPG Database stores the EPG/IPG data received from the EPG/IPGProvider, as managed by the EPG Cache Server, and can process, performcalculations, sorting, classification, tagging, filtering, andaggregation of the EPG/IPG data so that Venues can readily digest thedata. It can be appreciated that other information that could benecessary to facilitate the interaction with the EPG database and themanagement of data that is relevant to the various user profiles canalso be stored in the EPG/IPG database.

The EPG/IPG Distribution Server is configured to deliver EPG/IPG contentto users. The EPG/IPG Distribution Server filters EPG/IPG content basedon or derived from details included in user profiles, user location,user-selected filters, user search criteria, and other factors, anddelivers segments of the EPG/IPG database to users via their respectiveremotely located devices on request.

The Content-to-Presentation Schedule Manager supports the scheduling ofcontent onto presentation devices at a Venue for display. Eachpresentation device is associated with a schedule that supports theassignment of content to time slots. If a presentation device is capableof presenting content from more than source simultaneously (for examplea television might be capable of presenting a television program fromone source while simultaneously presenting audio content from a separatesource), then a separate schedule is provided for each supported sourceand type of content.

The Content-to-Presentation Schedule Manager configures the processor tocombine presentation device details, content source details, Venuenetwork details, Venue content preferences, restrictions and exclusionscaptured in the Venue Profile, EPG/IPG data from the EPG/IPGDistribution Server, and previously saved Content-to-PresentationSchedule data from the Content-to-Schedule Database and to present Venueusers, via a respective user device, with one or more presentationschedules for each presentation device. Moreover, theContent-to-Presentation Schedule Manager, based on user inputs receivedby the system server 105, enables Venue users to assign content of eachsupported type from the EPG/IPG listing(s) to each presentationschedule. The Content-to-Presentation Schedule Manager is furtherconfigured to alert Venue users as to schedule conflicts and time slotsto which no content has been assigned. The Content-to-PresentationSchedule Manager also provides tools for facilitating the assignment ofcontent to presentation device schedules, including filters by contentgenre (e.g. for television content, genres might include Sports, News,Food, Travel, etc., while for audio content, genres might include talkshow, news, country music, soul music, 90's hits, etc.), filters bytype(s) (e.g. for television content, types might include standarddefinition; high definition, ultra-high definition, while for audiocontent, genres might include stereo, mono, Dolby 5.1, etc.), filter byteam name, filter by league name, filter by live or recorded events.

The Content-to-Presentation Schedule Manager also configures theprocessor 110 of the system server 105 to execute functions forautomatically assigning content to presentation devices based onpreferences captured in (the Venue Profile, as well as in response to adhoc requests from Venue users. For example, for assigning video contentto presentation devices, a Venue might wish to prioritize one genre overanother during specific hours on selected presentation devices, or onesport over another on specific days of the week, or content of longerduration over shorter duration during certain hours, within a specifieddate range. The Content-to-Presentation Schedule Manager also enablesVenue users to partially complete the schedules for the Venue'spresentation devices, and provides an ‘auto-fill’ function that showsthe Venue user what the schedule will look like if the presentationdevices continue sourcing content from the most recently selectedsource.

The Content-to-Presentation Schedule Database can be configured to storeversions of each Content-to-Presentation Schedule, with timestampsindicating each requested schedule update, each successful scheduleupdate, each automated schedule update, each reservation-driven scheduleupdate, requesting process (e.g. Patron-to-Presentation ReservationManager, or Content-to-Presentation Schedule Manager), EPG/IPG data, andrequesting user information.

The Patron-to-Presentation Reservation Manager configures the processorto receive Patron-to-Presentation Reservation requests submitted byPatrons via the Patron Portal, Patron App and Patron Software. Based onthe received input and existing schedule for the Venue, and Venuespecific requirements, a reservation can be successfully processed andentered according to prescribed requirements. For example, a reservationcan be successfully processed and entered when a Patron requests contentfor which:

1. the selected Venue has an available media source, and

2. the selected Venue has an available presentation device, and

3. the available media source has the ability to supply the content tothe available presentation device, and

4. the requested content does not violate any of the preferences orcontent restrictions recorded in the Venue's Venue Profile, and

5. the requested content type is supported by the presentation device,and

6. other validations, as may be warranted, are applied and passed. Othervalidations could include a “reasonableness test”, such as a Patron isrequesting a reservation at noon in Dallas, and another reservation at1:00 PM in Tokyo—the distance between the two reservation locations istoo big and the time to travel that distance is too small, so bothreservations are flagged as questionable, and secondary algorithms arecommenced to review requesting Patron's history of honored or brokenreservations, other account activity, etc. Patron might be forced tocomplete a Captcha test to ferret out bots, or a question might be posedto the Patron to verify that Patron really intended these reservations.

The processor executing the Patron-to-Presentation Reservation Manageris further configured to transmit notices or messages to the particulardevice being used by the Patron so as to display a reservation successor reservation failure indicator to the Patron via the Patron Portal,Patron App, or Patron Software.

More specifically, the Patron-to-Presentation Reservation Managerreceives EPG/IPG information from the EPG/IPG distribution server, Venueinformation from the Venue Profile Manager, Content-to-PresentationSchedule information from the Content-to-Presentation Schedule Manager,Patron information from the Profile Manager, Patron Geolocationinformation from the Geolocation Manager, advertisements and specialoffers from the Advertisements and Special Offers Manager, andPatron-to-Presentation information from the Patron-to-PresentationReservation Database.

The Patron-to-Presentation Reservation Manager delivers filtered EPG/IPGlistings, Venue listings, content-to-presentation schedules, contentrecommendations, reservation confirmations and rejections, Venue-drivenreservation cancellations, reservation updates, advertisements andspecial offers, and food and beverage listings to Patrons via the PatronPortal, Patron App, and Patron Software.

The Patron-to-Presentation Reservation Database can be configured tostore versions of each Patron-to-Presentation Reservation, withtimestamps indicating each requested reservation, each successfulreservation, each requested reservation update, each successfulreservation update, an indicator of whether the reservation was honoredby the Venue, an indicator of whether the reservation was honored by thePatron, a reservation-schedule-to-presentation-schedule cross-referenceto the Content-to-Presentation Schedule Database, and requesting userinformation. It can be appreciated that other information that could benecessary to facilitate scheduling and management of reservations can bestored on the Patron-to-Presentation Reservation Database.

Description of Venue-Side Features of One or More ExemplaryImplementations

FIG. 3A-F are flow diagrams illustrating an exemplary routine 300 forreceiving and managing Venue information and providing the Venue withaccess to EPG/IPG listings and associated tools for scheduling andmanaging EPG/IPG content presented via the Venue's media devices.

At step 305, the Venue user accesses the Venue Portal, or the VenueSoftware, or the Venue App, and either registers a new Venue useraccount, or logs in to the system with a previously registered Venueuser account. The Venue user account associates one or more useridentifiers with a physical Venue, such as a restaurant. A Venue mayhave multiple registered Venue users, each with specified accountmanagement rights and system access rights.

At step 310, the Venue user begins initial registration by completing aVenue Profile, and said Venue Profile is associated with the Venueaccount and Venue user identifiers. The Venue Profile allows a Venueuser having appropriate account management rights and system accessrights to record and maintain information regarding the Venue, includingbut not limited to details regarding each of its plurality ofpresentation devices under its control (e.g. audio device, video device,audio and video device, Standard Definition video (SD), High Definitionvideo (HD), Ultra HD video (4k), etc.), details regarding dependenciesbetween presentation devices (e.g. two presentation devices are linkedto the same media content source, and will always present the same mediacontent from that source), details regarding dependencies betweenpresentation devices and media content sources (e.g., whether apresentation device is connected, directly or indirectly, to a mediacontent source), and between presentation devices details regarding theprovider(s) of media content to which the Venue has access, detailsregarding each of its plurality of media content subscriptions to whichthe Venue has a current subscription, the physical location of theVenue, the maximum seating and standing capacity of the Venue, detailsregarding the network infrastructure in use at the Venue, the usernameand password of each of the Venue's plurality of users, the role andaccess rights of each of the Venue's plurality of users, the Venue'spreferred content, the Venue's restricted or excluded content, theVenue's operating hours, the Venue's primary and alternate contacts, theVenue's billing and payment information, details regarding the Venue'sPoint of Sale system(s), details regarding the Venue's seatingreservation system(s), the Venue's Patron-to-Presentation ReservationArrival Time and Check-In Rules, the Venue's Patron-to-PresentationReservation cancellation rules, Media Content Start Time Rules, Venue'sMedia Content End Time Rules, Venue's Media Content Interruption Rules,details regarding the Venue's food and beverage offerings, the uniqueWidget identifier associated with each Widget configured within theVenue's network, and other information as necessitated to support theaccurate listing, scheduling and reservation of content ontopresentation devices.

The Venue Profile includes information capture and management functionsthat allow a Venue user having appropriate account management rights andsystem access rights to describe the Venue's network topology, includingwhich Presentation Devices are connected to which Media Sources, thenature of those network connections, the type, brand and model of eachMedia Source, network switch, Presentation Device, network managementsystem, content management system, and any software or middleware usedin or by the Venue network.

Information captured in the Venue Profile can also be used to supportPatron user's efforts to select a Venue for the Patron's visit. Forinstance, a Patron user may search for a Venue located within aspecified zip code, or having HD television screens, or offering aPatron user's preferred beverage.

Preferably, the system server maintains an updated list of media contentprogramming that is available for presentation at the Venue.Accordingly, at step 315, the EPG/IPG Cache Server can be configured tosubmit an EPG/IPG request to the EPG Provider to query the EPG/IPGProvider for programming information. It can be appreciated that thequery can be submitted to the EPG/IPG provider on a periodic basis, on ascheduled basis and/or in response to a request by a Venue user orPatron user. The query can request the entirety of EPG/IPG programminginformation for a geographic area, or specify subsets of the availableEPG/IPG programming information, such as a specific genre, zip code,content provider, etc. The EPG data can be stored in the EPG Database.

Having a completed Venue Profile, a Venue user with appropriate accountmanagement and access rights may then invoke the Content-to-PresentationSchedule Manager. It can be appreciated that steps 320-335, furtherdescribe the various steps performed by the system server 105 to compilethe data necessary to present the schedule managing interface, e.g.,Listing view, to the Venue User. Then as further described herein, theContent-to-Presentation Schedule Manager, allows the Venue user toassign media content to presentation devices, thereby creating aschedule of media content to be presented on each of its plurality ofpresentation devices and further allows the Venue user to assign mediacontent to presentation devices, thereby creating a schedule of mediacontent to be presented on each of its plurality of presentationdevices.

The GUI presented to the Venue User showing the Listing View or DeviceView can be similar to the exemplary screen-shots shown in FIGS. 5A and5B and described in relation to the Patron user Listing and Deviceviews, as further described below.

In one exemplary implementation, at step 340, in the Listing Viewprovided by the Content-to-Presentation Schedule Manager, the Venue useris presented with a variety of methods for filtering the EPG/IPGlisting, e.g. by genre, sport, team, league, HD video, programscurrently in progress, channel number or identifier, live events only,date, etc. The Venue user may also search for EPG/IPG programs byprogram name. If EPG/IPG programs are grouped into channels, the EPG/IPGlisting is segregated into channels by column, with each channel'sEPG/IPG content presented in an individual column, with the channelidentifier and call sign indicated at the top of the column. Contentthat meets the Venue user's filter and/or search criteria is presentedin the columns under its respective channel. Content that does not meetthe Venue user's filter and/or search criteria is hidden from view.Channels that contain no content meeting the Venue user's filter and/orsearch criteria are hidden from view, i.e. the associated column for thechannel is hidden in its entirety.

As noted above, the Venue Profile includes information concerning thevarious presentation devices at the Venue that are useable to displaycontent. Accordingly, through the Listing View, theContent-to-Presentation Schedule Manager can present the Venue user witha listing of the presentation devices at the Venue. Through the listingview, at step 350, the presentation devices can be selected by the Venueuser individually to enable assignment of EPG/IPG programs to saidpresentation device and review the programs assigned to saidpresentation device. For instance, selection of a particularpresentation device can prompt the Content-to-presentation ScheduleManager to provide the Venue user with a schedule of EPG/IPG content tobe presented in chronological order via the presentation device, inaccordance with the EPG/IPG schedule, e.g., a 1-hour EPG/IPG programbeginning at 1:00 PM and ending at 2:00 PM may be followed by anotherprogram beginning at 2:00 PM.

In some implementations, via the Listing View, theContent-to-Presentation Schedule Manager can allow the Venue user toassign EPG/IPG programs to a presentation device such that, due to thenature and timing of the EPG/IPG programs, EPG/IPG programs may overlapother EPG/IPG programs, creating an intersection of EPG/IPG programs,also referred to as a schedule conflict. Accordingly, as shown in step365 of FIG. 3D, the Content-to-Presentation Schedule Manager can beconfigured to identify such conflicts. Moreover, at step 350 (as shownin FIG. 3C, the Content-to-Presentation Schedule Manager can beconfigured to, via the Listing View, allow the Venue user to indicatewhich of the EPG/IPG programs involved in the conflict has priority overthe other EPG/IPG program(s) in the conflict, which said prioritydetermines which EPG/IPG program is presented on the presentation deviceand which EPG/IPG program(s) are interrupted to allow presentation ofthe priority EPG/IPG program. An individual EPG/IPG program can be inconflict with multiple other EPG/IPG program assignments, and anindividual EPG/IPG program can be assigned a different priority for eachconflict. For example, an EPG/IPG program (A) that begins at 10:00 AMand ends at 4:00 PM may be assigned to a presentation device. AnotherEPG/IPG program (B) that begins at 11:00 AM and ends at 12:00 PM may beassigned to the same presentation device, creating a conflict if bothEPG/IPG programs A and B cannot be presented by the same presentationdevice concurrently. The Venue user may assign a higher priority toEPG/IPG program B, thereby allowing EPG/IPG program B to interruptEPG/IPG program A. When EPG/IPG program B ends at 12:00 PM, EPG/IPGprogram A resumes. Yet another EPG/IPG program (C) that begins at 3:30PM and ends at 5:00 PM may be assigned to the same presentation device,creating another conflict if both EPG/IPG programs A and C cannot bepresented by the same presentation device concurrently. The Venue usermay assign a higher priority to EPG/IPG program A, thereby allowingEPG/IPG program A to continue to its end time, at which point EPG/IPGprogram C begins, already in progress.

Using the Listing View supported by the Content-to-Presentation ScheduleManager, the Venue user can also select a presentation device to whichthe Venue user wishes to assign EPG/IPG programs. TheContent-to-Presentation Schedule Manager can be configured to respond tosuch a selection by presenting EPG/IPG programs that can be assigned tothe presentation device. The list of EPG/IPG programs that can beassigned to a presentation device is dependent on several factors,including the availability of media source(s), connection(s) between themedia source(s) and the presentation device, and media type.Accordingly, the Content-to-Presentation Schedule Manager retrieves theEPG/IPG listing from the EPG/IPG Distribution Server which, in turn,queries the EPG/IPG Database to identify, based on the aforementionedfactors, which EPG/IPG programs are available to be assigned to theselected presentation device.

After selecting a presentation device (e.g. a video media presentationscreen) for scheduling, the Venue user may subsequently select (e.g.,double-click on) an individual EPG/IPG program, as presented by alabeled box in the schedule, thereby assigning the EPG/IPG program tothe selected device. If multiple presentation devices are arranged in agroup such that they are dependent on each other, i.e. all presentationdevices in the group receive media content from the same input device,and will present the same media content, then if a Venue user assigns anEPG/IPG program to one of the devices in the group, theContent-to-Presentation Schedule Manager can be configured to assignsthe same media content to all devices in the group, as defined in theVenue Profile.

In some implementations, the Content-to-Presentation Schedule Manager isconfigured to provide Venue users an option to assign EPG/IPG programsto only a portion of a presentation device's operating schedule, therebyleaving some periods of time in the presentation device'sContent-to-Presentation Schedule that have no EPG/IPG programs assigned,or empty. In order to ensure the Content-to-Presentation Schedule for adevice does not remain empty for any periods during the Venue'soperating hours, at step 355, the Content-to-Presentation ScheduleManager uses one or more of a plurality of rules for populating emptyportions of a presentation device's Content-to-Presentation Schedule.One rule may be to continue presenting EPG/IPG programs from the samecontent source and channel as the previous EPG/IPG program assigned tothe presentation device. For example, if a Venue user assigns to apresentation device P1 an EPG/IPG program E1 from Media Source M1,Channel C1 for the period 10:00 AM to 11:00 AM, and the period from11:00 AM to 11:30 AM is not assigned any EPG/IPG program, theContent-to-Presentation Schedule Manager can automatically attempt toassign an EPG/IPG program E2 from Media Source M1, Channel C1 for theperiod 11:00 AM to 11:30 AM. This would be the equivalent to turning ona television P1, and tuning its media source M1 to channel C1 at 10:00AM, at which time the television P1 would present EPG/IPG program E1from Media Source M1, Channel C1 for the period 10:00 AM to 11:00 AM,after which, assuming no change is made to the Media Source, Channel orPresentation Device, the television P1 would present whatever EPG/IPGprogram was scheduled to appear on Media Source M1, Channel C1 beginningat 11:00 AM. If the media type is incompatible with the presentationdevice, or the EPG/IPG program does not pass the content and/orpreferences validations defined in the Venue Profile, or if there is noEPG/IPG content available on Media Source M1, Channel C1 immediatelyfollowing the conclusion of EPG/IPG program E1, then theContent-to-Presentation Schedule Manager can be configured to attempt toassign One or more EPG/IPG programs from a pre-defined Channel C2 fromthe Media Source M1. If the media type of the EPG/IPG program availableon the pre-defined Channel C2 from the Media Source M1 is incompatiblewith the presentation device, or the EPG/IPG program does not pass thecontent and/or preferences validations defined in the Venue Profile, orif there is no EPG/IPG content available on Media Source M1, Channel C2immediately following the conclusion of EPG/IPG program E1, then theContent-to-Presentation Schedule Manager can be configured to attempt toassign one or more EPG/IPG programs from another Channel C3 . . . CNfrom Media Source M1. The Content-to-Presentation Schedule Manager canbe configured to use additional and/or alternative rules, such aspreferred genre, preferred source, “attempt to have this presentationdevice present the same EPG/IPG program as currently being presented ona specified presentation device”, etc.

The auto-fill/Preview function of the Content-to-Presentation ScheduleManager can be invoked by the Venue user in both the Listing View (topreview which EPG/IPG programs the Content-to-Presentation ScheduleManager can automatically assign to an individual presentation device)and the Device View (to preview which EPG/IPG programs theContent-to-Presentation Schedule Manager can automatically assign to theplurality of individual presentation devices.). EPG/IPG programsassigned to Content-to-Presentation Schedules automatically by theContent-to-Presentation Schedule Manager can be assigned a visualappearance (color, shading, or other indicator) different from EPG/IPGprograms assigned to Content-to-Presentation Schedules by Venue users,and different still from EPG/IPG programs assigned toContent-to-Presentation Schedules by Patron users via thePatron-to-Content Reservation Manager.

Description of Patron-Facing Features of One or More ExemplaryImplementations

Turning now to FIG. 4A, which is a high level diagram illustrating aroutine 400 for allowing Patron users to create a Patron profile, andfor processing Patron user inputs to the Patron-to-PresentationReservation Manager to search for content and Venues, and for processinga Patron user submitted content reservations.

At step 405, the Patron user accesses the Patron Portal, or the PatronSoftware, or the Patron App, and either registers a new Patron useraccount, or logs in to the system (i.e., accesses system server 105)with a previously registered Patron user account. The Patron useraccount associates a user identifier with a person. A Patron useraccount is granted a specified set of account management rights andsystem access rights, with such rights subject to change depending onthe configuration of, and functionality provided by the system. ThePatron profile manager can track user activity with the system 100 andcan be configured to receive information concerning the Patron'spurchasing/activity at the Venue from one or more computing systems thatrecord such activity-related information (e.g., venue or third-partyreservation systems or rewards programs) and can be configured toautomatically adjust Patron rights accordingly as a function ofpredefined rules. As such, Patron users may gain or lose specifiedfunctionality and/or system access rights based on the user's use of thesystem, earned and/or purchased access agreements, special offers and/orincentives, points and/or loyalty programs, etc. Such automatic rightsand incentives management through integration with

The Patron user completes a Patron Profile, and said Patron Profile isassociated with the Patron account and Patron user identifier. ThePatron Profile allows a Patron user having appropriate accountmanagement rights and system access rights to record and maintaininformation regarding the Patron, including but not limited to detailsregarding each of the Patron's plurality of interests, including thePatron's preferred content genres, preferred sports, preferred leagues,preferred teams, preferred Venues, preferred beverages, preferred foods,preferred smoking or non-smoking Venues, preferred smoking ornon-smoking seating within Venues, Patron address and/or zip code.

Having a completed Patron Profile, a Patron user with appropriateaccount management and system access rights may invoke thePatron-to-Presentation Reservation Manager, which is configured to allowthe Patron user to search for EPG/IPG content, at step 410, andultimately complete and submit a reservation request to enjoy mediacontent at a specified Venue, as further described herein.

For instance the various Patron-to-Presentation Reservation Managerfunctions can presented to a Patron via the Patron device. For exampleand without limitation Venue selection functions can include: SelectVenue from map based on Zip code or user's geolocation; Search for Venueby name; Select Venue name from dropdown list, filtered by user'sgeolocation or user-provided zip code; Show preferred Venues saved inPatron Profile; Search for Venue by beverage based on Venues' list ofbeverages and Patron user's selection of beverage; Search for Venue bybeverage based on Venues' list of beverages and Patron user's preferredbeverages saved in Patron Profile.

For example and without limitation, results of a Venue search can bepresented by the Patron-to-Presentation Reservation Manager to the uservia the user device in a list, map or other such visual arrangement.Moreover, the Patron can, through the Patron device, retrieve detailedVenue information from the system server 105, including, withoutlimitation: images of venue, menu, operating hours, details regardingpresentation devices, details regarding media sources, subscriptionpackages, details regarding venue's reservation rules, details regardingspecial offers at venue, and the like.

In addition, the Patron-to-Presentation Reservation Manager can, via thePatron app/portal, provide an option for the Patron user to invokeReservation creation function for the particular Venue or can view aschedule/grid relating to the availability at the Venue(s).

Moreover, at step 415, the Patron-to-Presentation Reservation Managervia the Patron app/portal can also provide additional search functionssuch that the user can also search, view or filter the Venues accordingto parameters relating to content and the presentation of content atprospective Venues. For example the Search by Content according toparameters including: Type (e.g. video or audio, video with audiobroadcast by Venue's device, video with streaming audio available toPatron user's device), genre, sport, team name, league name, livecontent only, HD content only, new content only (not repeats), on now,by channel identifier or number, by program title, or by date. Resultscan be displayed by the Patron-to-Presentation Reservation Managerthrough the Patron device. For instance the results can be visuallydisplayed as a schedule/grid showing EPG/IPG results that meet thePatron user's criteria, a schedule/grid showing Venues that have thecapacity to present EPG/IPG results that meet the Patron user's criteriaand/or a map showing Venues that have the capacity to present EPG/IPGresults that meet the Patron user's criteria.

Upon selection of a particular venue, the Patron-to-PresentationReservation Manager can retrieve information from the particular VenueProfile for presentation to the Patron through the Patron device. Thepresentation can include information concerning the various presentationdevices and content scheduled for display at the Venue through a ListingView and Device View user interface. The information and mariner ofpresentation while in these views can be similar to the correspondingListing and Device Views provided to a Venue User by theContent-to-Presentation Schedule Manager as described above. Anexemplary GUI presented to the Patron. User via the Patron User device(or a Venue User device) showing an exemplary Listing View and DeviceView are shown in FIGS. 5A and 5B, respectively.

Various exemplary processes relating to how the Patron-to-PresentationReservation Manager interacts with the Content-to-Presentation ScheduleManager to process and modify the presentation schedule according Patronrequests are further described herein and in relation to FIG. 4B. Atstep 320, a Patron-to-Presentation Reservation request submitted by aPatron user via the Patron Portal, Patron Software, or Patron App, isreceived by the Patron-to-Presentation Reservation Manager.

Then at step 425, the Patron-to-Presentation Reservation Managerinteracts with the Content-to-Presentation Schedule Manager bycommunicating a Patron-to-Presentation Reservation request submitted bya Patron user via the Patron Portal, Patron Software, or Patron App, andreceiving from the Content-to-Presentation Schedule Manager a responseindicating either the reservation was automatically accepted, is pendingacceptance via manual intervention by a Venue user, or the reservationwas rejected. While the Patron-to-Presentation Reservation Manager isconfigured to only allow the creation of Reservation Requests that canbe honored by the Venue, due to the fact that multiple Patrons mightcreate and submit Reservation Requests to the same Venue within arelatively short span of time, it is possible that a Venue was willingand able to present the requested content at the time the Patron userbegan the Reservation Request, but unwilling or unable to honor therequest by the time the Reservation Request was received by theContent-to-Presentation Schedule Manager.

In some implementations, EPG/IPG programs assigned to theContent-to-Presentation Schedule are assigned one of multiple prioritylevels, for example and without limitation 3 priority levels describedherein.

Priority 1: can include Programs that are scheduled by the Venue, andare effectively locked into the schedule. For example, a Venue makespublicly known their plans to present a specific sporting event on alarge format projection screen at the Venue. The media content relatedto the sporting event, and the presentation device on which the mediacontent will be presented are “locked” in the schedule, and cannot beoverridden by a Patron's media presentation requests unless a properlyauthorized Venue user specifically approves the Patron's mediapresentation request. Only a properly authorized Venue user can update alocked program assignment, or assign new programming that supersedes alocked program assignment. Programs that are included in a Venue'sContent-to-Presentation Schedule as a result of acceptedPatron-to-Presentation Reservations are also assigned priority 1 status.Note that multiple Patrons may submit, and have accepted by Venue users,Patron-to-Presentation Reservations for the same program on the samedevice. Venues have the ability to lock specified devices, eithercompletely, or for portions of specified days of the week, therebyprecluding Reservation Requests from being created for specified devicesduring specified times and dates. Additionally, Venues might want tolock all televisions for busy times like Sunday afternoons duringfootball season, and only accept reservation requests from users who arein the Venue. In other words, a time slot might be locked to Patronsoutside the Venue, but unlocked for Patrons who are checked in at theVenue. This is the equivalent of first-come, first-served seating, butwith an additional feature that allows Patrons who are present in thephysical Venue to request changes to scheduled or currently presentedcontent. Venue management could manually accept or reject thereservation request based on their assessment of the requested contentand other Patron interests. The system allows the Patron to select mediacontent and create a request to assign the media content to apresentation device. If Venue management accepts/approves the request,the assignment happens immediately. For content that is currently beingaired, the assignment of the content to the schedule causes the Widgetto issue the necessary media source tuning instructions and/or networkrouting instructions and/or presentation device input configurationinstructions such that the content is immediately presented on thespecified presentation device. For content that will not be availableuntil the future, the content is assigned to the schedule and, at themedia content start time, the schedule causes the Widget to issue thenecessary media source tuning instructions and/or network routinginstructions and/or presentation device input configuration instructionssuch that the content is immediately presented on the specifiedpresentation device.

Priority 2: can include programs that are scheduled by the Venue, butwhich the Venue will allow to be changed if Patrons reserve othercontent. These programs, though they appear on the media presentationschedule, are deemed to be “unlocked”, and can be overridden by anapproved Patron's media presentation request. Note that an unlockedprogram can become a reserved/locked program if either (a) a Patroncreates a reservation to watch the program, or (b) the Venue updates theschedule to indicate the program is locked. The Venue might lock apreviously unlocked program if a Patron starts watching a program, orthe Venue determines that the content should be locked due to anexpectation that Patrons will want to watch the program.

Priority 3: can include programs that are assigned to the schedule bythe Preview function, i.e. programs that result from the Venue leaving aperiod of time empty in a presentation device's media presentationschedule. These media presentation schedule slots and associatedprograms are deemed to be “free”.

Accordingly, when a Patron user submits a media presentation reservationrequest, the Scheduler can be configured to attempt to satisfy the mediapresentation request starting with free schedule slots, then proceedingto unlocked schedule slots, and finally to locked slots. Variousprocesses can be performed to determine to which device a Patron's mediapresentation reservation request should be assigned, or in which order,if multiple devices are capable of accepting a Patron's mediapresentation reservation request. In some implementations, the systemserver 105 can be configured to allow the Patron to decide, or Venues todefine the assignment order in the Patron Profile or Venue Profile. Byway of further example, a Patron user can be provided with a reducedfunctionality version of the Venue Scheduler. Frequent Patrons may havepreferences of enjoying content on a specific presentation device.Additionally, the Venue details provided through the Patron portal forexample, can provide a 3D rendering of the Venue, thereby furtherenabling Patron users to get a preview of their table location relativeto a device location, thereby facilitation the Patron's selection of anappropriate table accordingly.

In some implementations, the scheduler is configured such that aPatron's media presentation reservation request will not supersede alocked program. It is worth noting that a Patron reservation can, insome implementations, create a locked program. If a Patron reservationrequest can only be partially satisfied, i.e. some portion or portionsof the requested program will be superseded by locked programs, thescheduler can communicate the anticipated interruption(s) to the Patronuser, e.g. “Attention: This Venue will gladly accept and honor yourrequested reservation, but your requested program cannot be shown in itsentirety at this Venue. Please see the conflicts indicated below, andindicate whether you wish to accept the conflicts and confirm yourreservation, or reject the conflicts and create another reservation.”The Patron is shown the conflicts, and can be prompted to make adecision and provide a corresponding input. Various other methods forcommunicating information relating to media presentation scheduleconflicts can be implemented.

In some implementations, the Patron can be provided with aPatron-to-Presentation Reservation Check-In Agreement, for example, viathe Patron device. The Patron-to-Presentation Reservation Check-InAgreement is an agreement between the Venue and Patron whereby the Venueagrees to present the EPG/IPG content specified inPatron-to-Presentation Reservation if the Patron arrives and checks inat the Venue at or before an agreed upon time, The Venue's defaultPatron-to-Presentation Reservation Check-In Rules are recorded andmanaged in the Venue Profile: The Venue's default Patron-to-PresentationReservation Check-In Rules are incorporated into Patron-to-PresentationReservations made with the Venue, and are presented to the Patron userat the time the Patron user creates the Patron-to-PresentationReservation Request. In the Venue Profile, the Venue user specifies thedefault Check-in rules, such as “Patron must Check-In 10 minutes beforecontent presentation begins”, or “Patron may Check-In up to 15 minutesafter content presentation begins”. If the Patron does not Check-In inaccordance with the Patron-to-Presentation Reservation Check-InAgreement, the Venue has the option to cancel the Patron-to-PresentationReservation, releasing the Presentation Device and/or the Media Sourceto be used to satisfy other media requests. For instance, the Venue mayagree to begin presenting the requested EPG/IPG content on time; and tocontinue to present the requested EPG/IPG content for a pre-agreedperiod of time (e.g. 10 minutes) even if the Patron has not yet arrived,after which the Venue reserves the right to cancel the reservation ifthe Patron has not yet performed the agreed upon Check-In process at theVenue.

Because the Patron user may request to enjoy only the latter portion ofan EPG/IPG program, for instance, a Patron user may only be interestedin watching the last two hours of an eight-hour golf match, or thePatron user may know in advance that the Patron user will not be able toarrive at the Venue until 45 minutes after the start of a two-hourprogram. The Patron-to-Presentation Reservation Request allows thePatron user to indicate a preferred Media Content Start Time. TheVenue's Media Content Start Time Rules captured in the Venue Profiledetermines the Media Content Start Time values allowed by thePatron-to-Presentation Reservation Request. For instance, the Venue'sMedia Content Start Time Rules may only allow content presentation to bescheduled to begin on the hour and half hour, unless the program'sactual start time is specified in the EPG/IPG as starting at a timeother than on the hour or half hour, in which case the Venue's MediaContent Start Time Rules may allow the Media Content Start Time value tobe set to the actual start time, or to a value on the hour or half hourduring the course of the program. Additionally, the Media Content StartTime Rules may allow Patron users to request media content thatconflicts with previously scheduled media content. For instance, aPatron user may request media content that begins at 2:00 PM andcontinues until 4:00 PM. If a previously scheduled program were inconflict with the requested media content such that the requested mediacontent could not begin being presented until 2:30 PM, the Venue's MediaContent Start Time Rules may be configured to allow or disallow thePatron user to create a Patron-to-Presentation Reservation Request forthe requested content. The allowed values for the Media Content StartTime might then be either 2:30 PM, 3:00 PM, or 3:30 PM. ThePatron-to-Presentation Reservation Request allows the Patron user toindicate acceptance of specified interruptions of the requested mediacontent.

Similarly, the Patron user may request to enjoy only the former portionof an EPG/IPG program. For instance, a Patron user may only beinterested in watching the first two hours of a four-hour bike race, orthe Patron user may know in advance that the Patron user will be leavingthe Venue at a specified time, which time precedes the requested mediacontent end time. The Patron-to-Presentation Reservation Request allowsthe Patron user to indicate a preferred Media Content End Time. TheVenue's Media Content End Time Rules captured in the Venue Profiledetermines the Media Content End Time values allowed by thePatron-to-Presentation Reservation Request. For instance, the Venue'sMedia Content End Time Rules may only allow content presentation to bescheduled to end on the hour and half hour, unless the program's actualend time is specified in the EPG/IPG as ending at a time other than onthe hour or half hour, in which case the Venue's Media Content End TimeRules may allow the Media Content End Time value to be set to the actualend time, or to a value on the hour or half hour during the course ofthe program. Additionally, the Media Content End Time Rules may allowPatron users to request media content that conflicts with previouslyscheduled media content. For instance, a Patron user may request mediacontent that begins at 2:00 PM and continues until 4:00 PM. If apreviously scheduled program were in conflict with the requested mediacontent such that the requested media content could not be presented inits entirety due to a previously scheduled program beginning at 3:30 PM,the Venue's Media Content End Time Rules may be configured to allow ordisallow the Patron user to create a Patron-to-Presentation ReservationRequest for the requested content. The allowed values for the MediaContent End Time might then be either 2:30 PM, 3:00 PM, or 3:30 PM. ThePatron-to-Presentation Reservation Request allows the Patron user toindicate acceptance of specified interruptions of the requested mediacontent.

Similarly, the Patron user may request to enjoy only several portions ofan EPG/IPG program. For instance, a Patron user may only be interestedin watching the first two hours, and the last two hours of an eight-hourgolf match, or the Patron user may know in advance that the Patron userwill be leaving the Venue at a specified time during the program, butwill be returning before the conclusion of the program. The Venue'sMedia Content Interruption Rules captured in the Venue Profiledetermines the Media Content Interruption values allowed by thePatron-to-Presentation Reservation Request. For instance, the Venue'sMedia Content Interruption Rules may only allow content presentation tobe scheduled to be interrupted once, and such interruptions may bescheduled to occur only on the hour and half hour, and have durations ofa maximum and minimum number of minutes, and be specified to have aduration divisible by 30 minutes. Additionally, the Media ContentInterruption Rules may allow Patron users to request media content thatconflicts with previously scheduled media content. For instance, aPatron user may request media content that begins at 1:00 PM andcontinues until 7:00 PM. If a previously scheduled program were inconflict with the requested media content such that the requested mediacontent could not be presented in its entirety due to a previouslyscheduled program beginning at 3:00 PM and ending at 4:00 PM the Venue'sMedia Content Interruption Rules may be configured to allow or disallowthe Patron user to create a Patron-to-Presentation Reservation Requestfor the requested content. The Paton-to-Presentation Reservation Requestallows the Patron user to indicate acceptance of specified interruptionsof the requested media content.

As previously noted, the system 100 can be configured to, at step 430,identify if and when a particular Patron, who has previously submitted areservation request has honored the representation that they will visitthe Venue. Check-In can be performed via one or more of several methods.If the Patron user allows the system to verify the geolocation of thePatron user's device, the system server 105, through the venue app orportal can verify the geolocation of the Patron device at the time ofthe reservation, for instance, as provided by a GPS or WIFI-basedlocation services. If the geolocation of said device matches thegeolocation of the Venue at the Check-In time specified in thePatron-to-Presentation Reservation Check-In Agreement, then the Patronis deemed to have satisfied the Check-In process. Alternatively, a Venueuser may update the Reservation in the system to indicate that thePatron is present, thereby deeming that the Patron has satisfied theCheck-In process, for instance, the update can be input using atable-reservation system that is in communication with the system server105 and configured to provide access to such information to the systemserver. Alternatively, the system server 105 can generate and provide aunique barcode associated with the Patron-to-Presentation Reservation tothe user (e.g., via the patron app/portal), allowing the Patron user topresent to the Venue's integrated barcode scanner either a printedreservation or a display device that can present in the barcode inscannable form to the Venue's integrated barcode scanner. The systemserver 105 can be configured to receive inputs from the barcode scanner,and compare the barcode with barcodes associated with the Venue'scurrent Patron-to-Presentation Reservation. Alternatively, the systemcan be configured to interact with a Bluetooth (or other suitablewireless transceiver) device located in the Venue, whereby a connectionis automatically established between the Venue's Bluetooth device andthe Patron's device, and the system receives a notification from eitheror both of the Venue's Bluetooth device or the Patron's device,indicating that the reservation has been honored by the Patron.Alternatively, the Widget can be configured to detect when the Patron'sdevice has logged onto or made direct contact with the venues WIFInetwork, and the system then receives a notification from either or bothof the Widget or the Patron's device, indicating that the reservationhas been honored by the Patron. Alternatively, the Patron app can beconfigured to detect the Venue's WIFI network, and the system thenreceives a notification from either or both of the Widget or thePatron's device, indicating that the reservation has been honored by thePatron.

To verify that the Venue has honored a reservation, the system server105 can also be configured to periodically query the Media Source AND/ORmatrix switch AND/OR Presentation Device AND/OR intermediary devicesAND/OR software/middleware to validate that the EPG/IPG contentspecified in the Patron-to-Presentation Reservation is being presentedin accordance with the Patron-to-Presentation Reservation.

Preferably, the system server also records the results of the Check-Inprocess in storage, indicating whether the Patron satisfied thePatron-to-Presentation Reservation and whether the Venue satisfied thePatron-to-Presentation Reservation. The results of Check-In process canthus be used in separate reliability ratings associated with the Venueand the Patron.

In addition, the Venue Profile can include records and defaultPatron-to-Presentation Reservation Cancellation Rules. The Venue'sPatron-to-Presentation Reservation Cancellation Rules can thus beincorporated into Patron-to-Presentation Reservations made with theVenue, and can be presented to the Patron user at the time the Patronuser creates the Patron-to-Presentation Reservation Request.

Scheduling and Control of Content Presentation

Further aspects of one or more of the disclosed embodiments relating toscheduling and actively coordinating the presentation of media contentaccording to the schedule are further described herein with continuedreference to the exemplary system 100 described in relation to FIGS. 1and 2.

As previously noted, the Content-to-Presentation Schedule Manageroperating on the system server 105 can be configured to coordinate andmonitor the implementation of the Content-to-Presentation Schedules forthe Presentation Devices at the Venues supported by the system 100. Forexample, a Presentation Device (P1) at a Venue (V1) has aContent-to-Presentation Schedule (C1) with EPG/IPG Programs (E1 . . .En) assigned to time slots, with each EPG/IPG Program E1-En havingparameters including, for example and without limitation, a beginningtime, end time, Media Source identifier, Content Type identifier,EPG/IPG Program identifier, and channel identifier and/or frequencyidentifier and/or station identifier and/or URL and/or media feedidentifier, etc. as appropriate.

An exemplary routine for actively controlling the display of content atone or more presentation devices according to theContent-to-Presentation Schedules is depicted in FIG. 6 and furtherdescribed herein. At step 605, periodically, for instance, each day, ata scheduled time configured by the Venue user in the Venue Profile, theContent-to-Presentation Schedule Manager can send information includingdetails of the day's Content-to-Presentation Schedule to the Widget 160.The Widget stores the schedule in storage medium (not shown) and, asfurther described herein, at step 610, can translate the schedule intocontrol instructions that are useable to control the presentation ofcontent via the Venue subsystem according to the schedule. At step 615,at a time specified for a particular scheduled presentation event, theWidget transmits the control instruction to the appropriate device inthe Venue subsystem device to make the necessary device-setting changesto present the scheduled content.

More specifically, the Widget interprets the start time for each EPG/IPGprogram, and creates a Presentation Device Update Schedule, whichspecifies the Media Source from which the EPG/IPG program is provided,channel identifier and/or frequency identifier and/or station identifierand/or URL and/or Media feed identifier as appropriate, the PresentationDevice(s) to which the EPG/IPG program is to be routed, and the routinginstructions. For matrix switch installations, the routing instructionscan include the Media Source identifier (or input port, as appropriate)and Presentation Device identifier for each Presentation Device (oroutput port, as appropriate) to which the EPG/IPG program is scheduledto be routed. At the EPG/IPG program start time, the Widget communicatesthe specified change of channel identifier and/or frequency identifierand/or station identifier and/or URL and/or media feed identifier asappropriate to the specified Media Source, and communicates thespecified change of routing commands to the matrix switch(es).

The Widget can be configured to integrate with various different MediaManagement System configurations so as to effectively update EPG/IPGprograms presented via presentation devices. For instance, if onePresentation Device is connected to a single Media Source (e.g., 155),changing the EPG/IPG program presented on a specified PresentationDevice, the Widget performs this action by communicating with the singlespecified Media Source, and commanding the specified Media Source tochange from the current channel, frequency, station, URL, media feed,etc. to another specified channel, frequency, station, URL, media feed,etc. As the specified Presentation Device will present the EPG/IPGcontent fed by the specified Media Source, it is not necessary tocommunicate with the specified Presentation Device.

Similarly, if multiple Presentation Devices are connected to one MediaSource in a many-to-one relationship, perhaps via a signal splitter, theWidget can be configured to change changing the EPG/IPG programpresented on the specified plurality of Presentation Devices connectedto a single specified Media Source by communicating with the specifiedMedia Source, and commanding the specified Media Source to change fromthe current channel, frequency, station, URL, media feed, etc. toanother specified channel, frequency, station, URL, media feed, etc. Asthe plurality of the specified Presentation Devices connected to thespecified Media Source will present the EPG/IPG content fed by thespecified Media Source, it is not necessary to communicate with thespecified Presentation Devices.

If one Presentation Device is connected to more than one Media Source,the Widget can be configured to change the EPG/IPG program presented ona specified Presentation Device by communicating with the specifiedMedia Source, and commanding the specified Media Source to change fromthe current channel, frequency, station, URL, media feed, etc. toanother specified channel, frequency, station, URL, media feed, etc.AND/OR communicating with the specified Presentation Device andcommanding the specified Presentation Device to change from its currentMedia Source to another specified connected Media Source AND/ORcommunicating with a specified routing switch to command the specifiedrouting switch to route the signal from a specified Media Source to thespecified Presentation Device.

If multiple Presentation Devices are connected to multiple Media Sourcesin a many-to-many relationship, perhaps via a matrix switch, the ContentChange Manager can use the network mapping information captured in thePatron Profile to derive the appropriate content change instructions,which may include instructions for a specified Media Source, commandingthe specified Media Source to change from the current channel,frequency, station, URL, media feed, etc. to another specified channel,frequency, station, URL, media feed, etc., AND/OR instructions for aspecified Presentation Device, commanding the specified PresentationDevice to change from its current Media Source to another specifiedconnected Media Source AND/OR instructions for a specified matrixswitch, commanding the specified matrix switch to route EPG/IPG contentfrom the specified Media Source to the specified Presentation Device.

An exemplary system initiation/daily startup routine can be as follows:

As an initial step, the Widget creates a socket connection with pubtellyserver over the network. Then, the Widget initiates a heartbeat processbetween the Widget and the pubtelly server to monitor and maintain aconnection with the pubtelly server. Upon establishing a reliableconnection, the Widget can send a unique Widget Identifier to theserver, identifying the Widget to the server. Moreover, the Widget canrequest initial configuration parameters including, for example andwithout limitation, media source tuning, switch routing, closedcaptioning settings (e.g. On/Off, language, closed caption font style,closed caption font size, closed caption location on screen), audiosource tuning, audio source selection, audio volume, content managementsystem commands and/or settings, software and/or middleware commandsand/or settings, network commands and/or settings, and otherpresentation device adjustments information from pubtelly server.

In response to the identification and/or request received from theWidget, the pubtelly server, in particular the Content Change Manageruses the Widget Identifier received from the Widget to query theContent-to-Presentation Schedule Manager for initial configurationvalues associated with the Widget Identifier. Initial configurationvalues may consist of a device identifier, parameters and/or commands toestablish the specified settings necessary to achieve the proper statefor the specified device, and an execution time, e.g., a specified MediaSource having a specified Internet protocol address or machineidentifier is to be tuned to a specific frequency at a specific time.

It can be appreciated that lookup tables, including settings and controlparameters for each of a Venue's media systems (e.g., Media Source(s),network switch(es), Presentation Device(s), network managementsystem(s), content management system(s), and any software or middlewareused in or by the Venue network) can be maintained on the pubtellyserver. Thus, the Content Change Manager is enabled to generate specificinstructions based on the look-up table that can be interpreted andacted upon by each of a Venue's plurality of media systems, and theexecution of said instructions resulting in the Venue's media deviceshaving the appropriate and necessary status, such that Media Content ispresented by the Venue's Presentation Devices in accordance with theContent-to-Presentation Schedule.

Turning briefly to FIG. 6B, which is another exemplary routine forcontrolling the presentation devices in accordance with the contentpresentation schedule. In some embodiments, the system can be configuredsuch that the Content Change Manager can be configured to, at step 630,generate all commands necessary to perform all content changes relatedto the entirety of the Content-to-Presentation Schedule associated witha specified Widget (i.e., the particular Venue), and subsequentlycommunicate the entirety of those commands to the Widget for storage bythe Widget in a database local to the Widget. At step 635, at the timespecified with a particular instruction, the Widget can convert thechannel change request to a channel change request that is understood bythe particular set top box, matrix switch, or other media managementdevice that controls the content presented on the particular displaydevice. In addition or alternatively, one or more of the commands can berelayed by the Widget to the appropriate Venue subsystem device, withoutconversion.

In some implementations, the Widget can be configured to issue thespecified content change commands as appropriate even if the Widget isnot able to communicate with the system server. In addition oralternatively, the Content Change Manager can be configured to generateand transmit only a specified portion of those commands, for example,all commands necessary to control the Venue for today, or, by way offurther example, real-time commands for immediate or “on the fly”execution.

In some implementations, the system can be configured such that the EPGDistribution Manager sends to the specified Widget the entirety of theexisting EPG/IPG relevant to the Venue's media subscriptions, or aportion thereof (for example, the EPG/IPG for today and tomorrow) forstorage by the Widget in a database local to the Widget, therebyenabling the Widget to support the ongoing maintenance and monitoring ofthe Venue's Content-to-Presentation Schedule even if the Widget is notable to communicate with the pubtelly server.

In some implementations, the system can be configured such that theWidget contains or has local access to the lookup tables related to theVenue's media systems that are maintained on the pubtelly server. Thusthe Widget can be configured to generate the specific instructions thatcan be interpreted and acted upon by each of the Venue's plurality ofmedia systems, with the execution of said instructions resulting in therespective devices having the appropriate and necessary status such thatMedia Content is presented by the Venue's Presentation Devices inaccordance with the Content-to-Presentation Schedule. It can beappreciated that the Content-to-Presentation Schedule can be sent to thespecified Widget by the pubtelly server, and/or maintained locally bythe specified Widget.

In some implementations, the Widget can be configured such that, afterreceiving from the system server information including but not limitedto the Venue Profile; the entirety of the Venue's EPG/IPG or a portionof the Venue's EPG/IPG for a period (for example, the Venue's EPG/IPGfor today and tomorrow); the entirety of the Venue'sContent-to-Presentation Schedule or a portion of the Venue'sContent-to-Presentation Schedule (for example, the Venue'sContent-to-Presentation Schedule for today and tomorrow); the lookuptables related to the Venue's media systems, that the Widget couldinteract directly with the Venue App and/or Venue Software configured onthe Venue User Device, thereby enabling the Venue to continue updating alocal version of the Content-to-Presentation Schedule and receiving thebenefits of the Content Change Manager even if the Widget is not able tocommunicate with the system server. Moreover, the Widget can beconfigured to communicate to the system server any updates that havebeen made in the Venue's offline local Content-to-Presentation Schedulewhen the Widget is next able to establish a connection with the server.As such, the system server can reconcile the changes in the server-sideContent-to-Presentation Schedule and synchronize with the Widgetaccordingly.

In view of the foregoing exemplary configurations of the system 100, itcan be appreciated that various processes for controlling the contentthat is presented on one or more of the Presentation devices at theVenue can be implemented using the Widget, while other aspects relatingto control can be performed/implemented using the server such thatcontrol is coordinated by both the Widget 160 and the system server 105.Accordingly, it should be appreciated that one or more of the routinesor individual steps described as being handled by the Widget exclusivelycan, in some configurations, be implemented by the server, and viceversa.

It can also be appreciated that, in some implementations, the Widget canbe configured to support some or all of the functions described inrelation to the Content-to-Presentation Schedule Manager and/or ContentChange Manager and/or EPG/IPG Cache Manager and/or EPG/IPG DistributionManager, thereby enabling the Venue to continue to receive some portionor all of the functional benefits of the Content-to-PresentationSchedule Manager and/or Content Change Manager and/or EPG/IPG CacheManager and/or EPG/IPG Distribution Manager, for instance, in the eventthe Widget is unable to establish or maintain a connection with thepubtelly server. Accordingly, the Widget can be configured tocommunicate to the server 105 any updates that have been made in theVenue's offline local Content-to-Presentation Schedule when the Widgetis next able to establish a connection with the server.

In accordance with one or more of the disclosed embodiments, anexemplary routine performed by the system server 105 and Widget 160 toactively monitor and control presentation of content at the Venue caninclude one or more of the following steps: First, the Content ChangeManager sends configuration values to Widget, either individually or inbatch(es), in secure/encrypted form. The Widget receivessecure/encrypted configuration values from Content Change Manager, anddecrypts configuration values and stores the configuration values inconfiguration database local to the Widget. At the execution timespecified for each command, the Widget communicates commands tospecified Media Source(s), network switch(es), Presentation Device(s),network management system(s), content management system(s), as well asany software or middleware used in or by the Venue network. Thespecified Media Source(s), network switch(es), Presentation Device(s),network management system(s), content management system(s), as well asany software or middleware used in or by the Venue network, respond tocommands received from the Widget and adjust their respective operationaccordingly. The specified devices can also broadcast message(s)regarding the results of the commands received, either independently orin response to a status query from the Widget. The Widget receives anyand all messages broadcast and can be further configured to log themessages in a log database local to the Widget. Moreover, the Widget canalso be configured to communicate the logs to Content Change Managersynchronously or asynchronously, individually or in batch(es), asconfigured. To the extent that the messages report any errors, theWidget can be configured to handle any errors it receives by reissuingcommands up to a specified number of attempts, after which the Widgetcan further inform the server of the reported issue and the Widgetcontinues with the process until complete. At completion of the baselinesetting, the Widget sends a message to the pubtelly server indicatingcompletion of the baseline, and requests next channelchange/switching/etc. for each device. In some implementations, theWidget can be configured to continue to issue the previously failedcommands up to a specified number of retries, and can also be configuredto send messages to users or administrators (e.g., a message to theVenue's IT team and to the Patron) alerting the parties to the issue.

Subsequently, the Widget receives the requested information regardingnext channel change/switching/etc. for each device and issuesinstructions to the specified devices accordingly.

In the event that any schedule updates occur that would require updatingof the Next channel change/switching/etc. info for any device, switch,or source, then server sends said information to the Widget. Uponreceipt of said information the Widget can update the Widget's nextchange database. If a user (either a Patron or Venue user) enters animmediate change request directly or indirectly into the schedule, theserver sends the details of that request as a next update command to theWidget, with a corresponding time for the change, say, immediate.Accordingly, the Widget sends out the commands to the sources, switches,devices, etc. and upon completion, the Widget can again ask for nextchannel, or an original command from the server might be stored in thenext channel database for subsequent processing.

It should be appreciated that in some implementations, the Widget can bean optional element of the proposed solution, and can primarily be usedif the system server 105 cannot communicate directly with one or moresources, devices or switches within the Venue subsystem network, forinstance, in the case where one or more sources, devices or switcheswill only respond to commands that are issued by a device located on thelocal area network. Accordingly, the Widget can be used to overcome thisand other such obstacles by being a local relay for commands receivedfrom the system server, which resides outside the Venue's LAN.

In accordance with one or more of the exemplary embodiments, the ContentChange Manager can be configured to communicate the Content ChangeInstructions to the Widget. The Widget, in turn, communicates theContent Change Instructions to the specified Media Source AND/OR thespecified Presentation Device AND/OR the specified matrix switch. TheWidget can be configured to receive any responses, including errormessages, confirmation messages, etc. received from the Media Source,Presentation Device, and/or matrix switch, and log the responses. Ifresponses indicate errors, alerts, or delays, the Widget addresses eacherror, alerts, AND/OR delay response as appropriate.

It can be appreciated that the Widget can be configured with lookuptables containing the various responses that can be received from theVenue's media devices (e.g., Media Source(s), network switch(es),Presentation Device(s), network management system(s), content managementsystem(s), and any software or middleware used in or by the Venuesubsystem), and that the Widget can also be configured to performpre-defined steps to resolve issues specified AND/OR implied in saidresponses. After comparing said responses received with the configuredresponse lookup tables, the Widget takes predefined steps to resolveissues, overcome delays, AND/OR determine that other interventionprocesses are necessary to resolve the issue(s) indicated by theresponse(s) received. Preferably, the Widget is configured to log, in alocal or network accessible storage, one or more of the responsesreceived, as well as steps taken by the Widget to resolve said issues,and subsequently logs one or more of the responses received during theprocesses involved in resolving the reported or implied issues, andcontinues this process for a predefined amount of time/cycles.

After the Widget performs any issue resolution steps, the Widget can beconfigured to pass the results of each process to the Content ChangeManager for evaluation. Results sent by the Widget to the Content ChangeManager may include, but are not limited to, indicators of success,indicators of responses received from the Venue's Media Source(s),network switch(es), Presentation Device(s), network managementsystem(s), content management system(s), and any software or middlewareused in or by the Venue network, a log of all processes performed by theWidget, and current status of any and all devices queried AND/ORcommanded by the Widget. It can be appreciated that the system can beconfigured such that the Widget interacts with the Content ChangeManager synchronously or asynchronously. Also, it can be appreciatedthat the system can be configured such that Content Change Commands,activities, and responses are coordinated individually AND/OR inbatches.

It should be noted that various media sources, intermediary devices(including matrix switches, splitters, content management devices,middleware, HDMI-to-IP converters, IP-to-HDMI converters, etc.) andpresentation devices can be arranged in various ways in a particularVenue subsystem. As a result there are a number of possible ways inwhich the presentation devices can be controlled. Accordingly, tointegrate with the legacy system, the Widget 160, either alone or incombination with the back-end system server 105, is configured toperform the function of translating the presentation control scheduleinto functional commands that are communicated to and acted upon by themedia sources, intermediary devices, and presentation devices within theVenue subsystem/network. In some implementations, the Widget can includean input-to-output mapping module, which is configured to use a lookuptable or other pre-defined rules to translate a particular schedulecommand into an actionable instruction.

By way of further example, there exist configurations in which multiplemedia sources are connected to multiple presentation devices via one ormore matrix switches. In such a configuration, each presentation devicemight be configured to present content sourced from one and only onemedia source at a given time, and each media source might be configuredto serve one and only one stream of media content at a given time. Thus,for example, a configuration having twelve media sources and 64presentation devices is limited to simultaneously allocating up totwelve distinct media content streams to up to 64 presentation devices,with each of those twelve distinct media content streams being presentedby as few as zero, and as many as 64 presentation devices, and eachpresentation device presenting as few as zero, and as many as onesimultaneous media content streams.

In such a configuration, it is possible that one or more of the mediasources is capable of offering unique media content, that is notavailable for streaming from the other eleven media sources. It is alsopossible that some media content is available from more than one of thetwelve media sources, i.e. the media content is “common”. By example andwithout limitation, it is possible that at a time T1, a media source S1is capable of offering unique media content MU and of offering commonmedia content MC, and said media source S1 is at time T1 tuned toprovide the common media content MC, and the common media content MC isrouted through the matrix switch to be presented on Presentation DeviceP1. Also at time T1, another media source S2 is capable of offering thecommon media content MC, and either (a) the matrix switch is configuredsuch that there are no Presentation Devices currently presenting mediacontent from media source S2, or (b) any and all Presentation Devices towhich media content from Media Source S2 is being routed are not beingenjoyed by any Patrons. In this scenario, media source S2 is considered“free”, i.e. the media source S2 can be tuned to present different mediacontent without negatively impacting any Patrons. If at time T1 thesystem receives a request to present unique media content MU onpresentation device P2, and presentation device P1 is expected tocontinue to present common media content MC, it is possible to tune thefree media source S2 to offer the common media content MC, andsubsequently route the common media content MC from media source S2through the matrix switch to be presented on presentation device P1,thereby disconnecting media source S1 from presentation device P1, andmaking media source S1 “free”. Media source S1 can now be tuned to offerunique media content MU, and subsequently the unique media content frommedia source S1 can be routed through the matrix switch to be presentedon presentation device P2.

This process, by which media programs are specified, a source (orsources) for the specified media programs are identified, the multiplemedia sources are tuned in accordance with specified requirements, andthe matrix switch is configured to route media programs in accordancewith Patron requests, is complex and cannot be effectively performedmanually. In accordance with one or more of the disclosed embodiments,the system (e.g., the system server 105 and/or the Widget 160) can beconfigured to automatically identify the optimum tuning of media sourcesbased on the EPG/IPG available from each media source, the currenttuning of each media source, the current routing of each media source toeach presentation device, the current use status of each presentationdevice (e.g. a television being watched by a Patron is in use, whereas atelevision that is either turned off or not being watched by a Patron isfree), and the possible mapping of each media source to eachpresentation device as supported by the Venue's network infrastructure.The system can be further configured to, based on the EPG/IPG availablefrom each media source, the current tuning of each media source, thecurrent routing of each media source to each presentation device, thecurrent use status of each presentation device, the possible mapping ofeach media source to each presentation device as supported by theVenue's network infrastructure, automatically and optimally define thesubsequent routing of media sources to presentation devices, andsubsequently issue tuning and routing commands to the various mediasources, matrix switch(es), content management systems, and/orpresentation devices as appropriate, thereby seamlessly controlling thepresentation across the various Venue devices in a manner that minimizesdisruption of the concurrent Patron and Venue programming requests.Moreover, the automated tuning and routing process drastically reduceshuman effort and the time delay between the request for content and thepresentation of content, and eliminates human error which may result inimproperly tuned media source(s) and/or improperly routed mediacontent(s).

The importance of the automated tuning and routing process increases asthe number of media sources and presentation devices increases. It iscommon for a sports bar to have twelve or more media sources and 60 or,more television screens. Identifying, and subsequently implementing theoptimum tuning and routing solution to present a Patron's requestedmedia content on one or more presentation devices while all twelve mediadevices and 64 television screens are in use, and while the sports baris at capacity with noisy, excited Patrons is not practical, and there-tuning and. re-routing processes via manual process is far too timeconsuming to be performed without negatively impacting the presentationof content and thus, the Patrons' media content experience.

The system can be further configured to determine the optimum order inwhich the media sources can be retuned and the matrix switch routingsupdated to minimize negative impacts on the presentation of content atthe Venue and, thus, the Patrons' media content experience. The mappingof media content to media sources to presentation devices is preferablyperformed by the system server 105 and/or the Widget 160, which can beconfigured to determine whether the requested media content can besourced without interfering with previously scheduled and/or reservedmedia presentations. If it is determined that the requested mediacontent can be sourced without interfering with previously scheduledand/or reserved media presentations, then the tuning order and routingorder is analyzed by the system to determine the optimum order in whichto re-tune the various media sources necessary to satisfy the mostrecent request, and the optimum order in which routing instructionsshould be updated to minimize negative impacts on the Patrons' mediacontent experience. These processes can be algorithmically determinedand implemented by the system, with fine tuning depending on devicespecifications.

The re-tuning of media sources and re-routing of media sources topresentation devices can be encapsulated into a single series ofactions, or into a collection of discrete actions, with said actionsbeing carried out by the system immediately upon request by anauthorized user, or queued to occur at a specified time, or queued tooccur when an authorized user invokes a command. For example, if thesystem determines that the re-tuning and re-routing process is expectedto have a negative impact on Patrons' media content experience due tothe process causing a brief interruption in video and/or audiopresentation, the system can queue the re-tuning and re-routingprocesses and prompt a Venue user to actively initiate, using a Venuedevice, the processes during a commercial break, or during a lull in themedia content. It can also be appreciated that the particular time forexecuting the processes can be automatically predicted by the system soas to eliminate the need for manual user input or otherwise perform theprocesses in the event that a command is not received.

It can be appreciated that, based on the configuration of the Venuesubsystem and the particular combination of presentation devices,control devices and routing devices, alternative instruction mappingsolutions can be implemented by the widget and server to control theoperation of the devices in accordance with the presentation schedule.

According to a further aspect of one or more of the disclosedembodiments, the system can be configured to automatically provide, onbehalf of third party goods and service providers, incentives toPatrons. For instance, a Venue, Television Network, Television Channel,Cable Network, Satellite Network, Radio Network, Sports Team, SportsLeague; content producer, beverage producer, food producer, fooddistributor, beverage distributor, advertiser, etc. may wish to enticePatrons to experience specified media content. These parties may use thesystem to communicate and/or recommend the availability, nature, scope,timing, location, cost, benefits, and/or other facets of specified mediacontent to Patrons via the Patron App, Patron Software, and/or PatronPortal. These parties may create alerts and/or reminders in the system,and system can be configured to communicate said alerts and/or remindersto Patron via one or more of several methods allowed by the Patron App,Patron Software, and/or Patron Portal, including but not limited toemails, text messages, pop-up notifications, sounds, vibrations,messages delivered within or through the Patron App, Patron Software,and/or Patron Portal.

Similarly, a Venue, Television Network, Television Channel, CableNetwork, Satellite Network, Radio Network, Sports Team, Sports League,content producer, beverage producer, food producer, food distributor,beverage distributor, advertiser, etc. may wish to entice Patrons topurchase and/or otherwise consume specified products and/or services.These parties may use the system to communicate and/or recommend theavailability, nature, scope, timing, location, cost, benefits, and/orother facets of specified products and/or services to Patrons via thePatron App, Patron Software, and/or Patron Portal. These parties maycreate alerts and/or reminders in the system, and system willcommunicate said alerts and/or reminders to Patron via one or more ofseveral methods allowed by the Patron App, Patron Software, and/orPatron Portal, including but not limited to emails, text messages,pop-up notifications, sounds, vibrations, messages delivered within orthrough the Patron App, Patron Software, and/or Patron Portal.

By way of further example, a Venue, Television Network, TelevisionChannel, Cable Network, Satellite Network, Radio Network, Sports Team,Sports League, content producer, beverage producer, food producer, fooddistributor, beverage distributor, advertiser, etc. may wish to enticePatrons to extend their current media content experience by offering,suggesting and/or recommending specified media content, with theoffered, suggested, and/or recommended media content being based onmedia content specified in the Patron-to-Presentation Reservation,and/or the media content currently being enjoyed by Patron, and/or mediacontent that is scheduled to be presented simultaneously in the Venuespecified in the Patron-to-Presentation Reservation. Said offered,suggested, and/or recommended media content may be based on mediacontent that matches either the Patron's expressly stated preferences ascaptured in the Patron Profile, the Patron's implied preferences ascaptured in the Patron's Reservation History, as determined based oncontent reservations of other Patrons who enjoyed content similar to thecontent specified in the Patron-to-Presentation Reservation, or asdetermined based on Patron-to-Presentation Reservations of other Patronswho have historically enjoyed and/or are currently enjoying mediacontent similar to the media content specified in thePatron-to-Presentation Reservation. If said offered, suggested, and/orrecommended media content will be available for Patron to experience atthe same Venue, and said media content is scheduled to be availableimmediately prior to, concurrently, or after the media content specifiedin the Patron-to-Presentation Reservation, then said media content mayentice Patron to arrive at the Venue earlier and/or stay longer at theVenue. These parties may use the system to communicate and/or recommendthe availability, nature, scope, timing, location, cost, benefits,and/or other facets of specified media content to Patrons via the PatronApp, Patron Software, and/or Patron Portal. These parties may createalerts and/or reminders in the system, and system will communicate saidalerts and/or reminders to Patron via one or more of several methodsallowed by the Patron App, Patron Software, and/or Patron Portal,including but not limited to emails, text messages, pop-upnotifications, sounds, vibrations, messages delivered within or throughthe Patron App, Patron Software, and/or Patron Portal.

Embodiments of the subject matter and the operations described in thisspecification can be implemented in digital electronic circuitry, or incomputer software, firmware, or hardware, including the structuresdisclosed in this specification and their structural equivalents, or incombinations of one or more of them. Embodiments of the subject matterdescribed in this specification can be implemented as one or morecomputer programs, i.e., one or more modules of computer programinstructions, encoded on computer storage medium for execution by, or tocontrol the operation of, data processing apparatus. A computer storagemedium can be, or be included in, a computer-readable storage device, acomputer-readable storage substrate, a random or serial access memoryarray or device, or a combination of one or more of them. Moreover,while a computer storage medium is not a propagated signal, a computerstorage medium can be a source or destination of computer programinstructions encoded in an artificially-generated propagated signal. Thecomputer storage medium can also be, or be included in, one or moreseparate physical components or media (e.g., multiple CDs, disks, orother storage devices).

Various implementations of the systems and techniques described here canbe realized in digital electronic circuitry, integrated circuitry,specially designed ASICs (application specific integrated circuits),computer hardware, firmware, software, and/or combinations thereof.These various implementations can include implementation in one or morecomputer programs that are executable and/or interpretable on aprogrammable system including at least one programmable processor, whichcan be special or general purpose, coupled to receive data andinstructions from, and to transmit data and instructions to, a storagesystem, at least one input device, and at least one output device.

These computer programs (also known as programs, software, softwareapplications or code) include machine instructions for a programmableprocessor, and can be implemented in a high-level procedural and/orobject-oriented programming language, and/or in assembly/machinelanguage. As used herein, the terms machine-readable storage medium andcomputer-readable storage medium refer to any computer program product,apparatus and/or device (e.g., magnetic discs, optical disks, memory,Programmable Logic Devices (PLDs)) used to provide machine instructionsand/or data to a programmable processor, including a machine-readablestorage medium that receives machine instructions as a machine-readablesignal. The term machine-readable signal refers to any signal used toprovide machine instructions and/or data to a programmable processor. Amachine-readable storage medium does not include a machine-readablesignal.

To provide for interaction with a user, the systems and techniquesdescribed here can be implemented on a computer having a display device(e.g., a CRT (cathode ray tube) or LCD (liquid crystal display) monitor)for displaying information to the user and a keyboard and a pointingdevice (e.g., a mouse or a trackball or touchscreen) by which the usercan provide input to the computer. Other kinds of devices can be used toprovide for interaction with a user as well; for example, feedbackprovided to the user can be any form of sensory feedback (e.g., visualfeedback, auditory feedback, or tactile feedback); and input from theuser can be received in any form, including acoustic, speech, or tactileinput.

The systems and techniques described here can be implemented in acomputing system that includes a back end component (e.g., as a dataserver), or that includes a middleware component (e.g., an applicationserver), or that includes a front end component (e.g., a client computerhaving a graphical user interface or a Web browser through which a usercan interact with an implementation of the systems and techniquesdescribed here), or any combination of such back end, middleware, orfront end components. The components of the system can be interconnectedby any form or medium of digital data communication (e.g., acommunication network). Examples of communication networks include alocal area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), and the Internet.

The computing system can include clients and servers. A client andserver are generally remote from each other and typically interactthrough a communication network. The relationship of client and serverarises by virtue of computer programs running on the respectivecomputers and having a client-server relationship to each other.

While this specification contains many specific implementation details,these should not be construed as limitations on the scope of anyimplementation or of what may be claimed, but rather as descriptions offeatures that may be specific to particular embodiments of particularimplementations. Certain features that are described in thisspecification in the context of separate embodiments can also beimplemented in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, variousfeatures that are described in the context of a single embodiment canalso be implemented in multiple embodiments separately or in anysuitable subcombination. Moreover, although features may be describedabove as acting in certain combinations and even initially claimed assuch, one or more features from a claimed combination can in some casesbe excised from the combination, and the claimed combination may bedirected to a subcombination or variation of a subcombination.

Similarly, while operations are depicted in the drawings in a particularorder, this should not be understood as requiring that such operationsbe performed in the particular order shown or in sequential order, orthat all illustrated operations be performed, to achieve desirableresults. In certain circumstances, multitasking and parallel processingmay be advantageous. Moreover, the separation of various systemcomponents in the embodiments described above should not be understoodas requiring such separation in all embodiments, and it should beunderstood that the described program components and systems cangenerally be integrated together in a single software product orpackaged into multiple software products.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particularembodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. Asused herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended toinclude the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicatesotherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises”and/or “comprising”, when used in this specification, specify thepresence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements,and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of oneor more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements,components, and/or groups thereof.

It should be noted that use of ordinal terms such as “first,” “second,”“third,” etc., in the claims to modify a claim element does not byitself connote any priority, precedence, or order of one claim elementover another or the temporal order in which acts of a method areperformed, but are used merely as labels to distinguish one claimelement having a certain name from another element having a same name(but for use of the ordinal term) to distinguish the claim elements.

Also, the phraseology and terminology used herein is for the purpose ofdescription and should not be regarded as limiting. The use of“including,” “comprising,” or “having,” “containing,” “involving,” andvariations thereof herein, is meant to encompass the items listedthereafter and equivalents thereof as well as additional items.

Particular embodiments of the subject matter described in thisspecification have been described. Other embodiments are within thescope of the following claims. For example, the actions recited in theclaims can be performed in a different order and still achieve desirableresults. As one example, the processes depicted in the accompanyingfigures do not necessarily require the particular order shown, orsequential order, to achieve desirable results. In certainimplementations, multitasking and parallel processing may beadvantageous. Various modifications and changes can be made to thesubject matter described herein without following the exampleembodiments and applications illustrated and described, and withoutdeparting from the true spirit and scope of the present disclosure,which is set forth in the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer-implemented method for scheduling andcontrolling the presentation of media content at a venue that has mediadevices including one or more media source devices connected to one ormore media presentation devices, wherein the one or more media sourcedevices are configured to provide media content received from arespective media source to one or more media presentation devices foroutput, the method comprising: receiving at a schedule managementserver: electronic programming data including a list of media contentitems that are available for presentation at the venue, a respectivemedia source and any respective time-periods for each of the mediacontent items, and venue data including information identifying the oneor more media source devices; providing a venue control module, whereinthe venue control module is configured to communicate with the one ormore media devices and communicate with the schedule management servervia one or more of: a communications network connection, a cable-basedcommunications channel, a satellite-based communications channel and aradio-based communications channel, and wherein the venue control moduleis one or more of: a device and a software module; maintaining, with theschedule management server based on the electronic programming data andthe venue data, a venue programming schedule identifying scheduled mediacontent items for presentation at the venue during respective timeperiods; generating, according to the venue programming schedule,control instructions for causing one or more of the media devices at thevenue to output the scheduled media content items at the venue duringrespective time periods; providing the control instructions at the venuecontrol module; and issuing, by the venue control module according tothe control instructions, control parameters to one or more of the mediadevices, wherein the control parameters cause one or more of the mediadevices to transition to a respective state that is suitable forpresenting a particular scheduled media content item at the venue at arespective execution time.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein a mediasource is one or more of: a local or remote storage medium having mediacontent items stored persistently therein, an internet-based mediacontent source configured to stream media content items to the venueover a communications network, a remote media source configured totransmit media content items to the venue via a cable-basedcommunications channel, a remote media source configured to transmitmedia content items to the venue via a radio-based communicationschannel, and a remote media source configured to transmit media contentitems to the venue via a satellite-based communications channel.
 3. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the venue data stored by the schedulemanagement server comprises one or more of: access rights that controlwhich media content items are available for presentation at the venue,venue-defined limitations relating to the availability of media contentitems for presentation at the venue, information usable to mapconnectivity between the one or more media source devices and the one ormore presentation devices, and the configuration of one or more of themedia devices at the venue.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the venuesettings define one or more of: a configuration of one or more of themedia source devices and the respective media sources that areaccessible therewith, a configuration of the one or more presentationdevices, and information describing the connectivity between each of theone or more media source devices and the one or more presentationdevices.
 5. The method of claim 4, wherein the venue settings includeone or more of: credentials for accessing respective media sources usingthe one or more media source devices, venue-defined limitations relatingto the availability of media content items for presentation at thevenue, a configuration of the venue network interconnecting one or moreof the venue devices, a configuration of a router connected to the venuenetwork, credentials for issuing control instructions to the one or morepresentation devices, and control parameters that are issued to the oneor more presentation devices.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the stepof generating the control instructions comprises: identifying based onthe venue programming schedule, a particular media source device forproviding a particular scheduled media content item identified in thevenue programming schedule to a presentation device during a particularrespective time period; and wherein the step of issuing furthercomprises: transmitting, by the venue control module, a command thatincludes the control parameters defined to cause the particular mediasource device to, at a prescribed execution time, receive the particularmedia content item from the respective media source and provide theparticular media content item to the presentation device, wherein theprescribed execution time corresponds to the respective time period. 7.The method of claim 6, further comprising: defining the controlparameters, wherein the control parameters are defined to cause theparticular media source device to perform one or more of the followingactions: tune to a particular channel or frequency, access a particularinternet-protocol address, provide credentials useable to access theparticular media content item to the respective media source, downloadthe particular media content item from the respective media source. 8.The method of claim 7, further comprising: wherein the controlparameters include one or more of: media source device tuning settings,media source configuration settings, routing settings for a networkswitch connected to the venue network, audio source tuning settings,audio source selection settings, audio volume settings, contentmanagement system settings, software and middleware settings, and venuenetwork settings.
 9. The method of claim 6, further comprising:identifying, by the venue control module based on the venue settings andthe venue programming schedule, a particular presentation device that isconnected to the particular media source device and that is availablefor outputting the particular scheduled media content item; andgenerating a command that is addressed to the particular presentationdevice and causes the particular presentation device to transition to anoperational state that is suitable for outputting the particularscheduled media content provided by the particular media source device.10. The method of claim 6, wherein the one or more presentation devicesare communicatively connected to the one or more media source devices ina one-to-one relationship and configured to output media content itemsreceived directly from the one or more media source devices, and whereingenerating the control instructions further comprises: defining thecontrol parameters for transmission to the particular media sourcedevice, the media source control parameters including one or more of: achannel setting and a channel change command.
 11. The method of claim 6,wherein a plurality of presentation devices are connected to a pluralityof media source devices in a many-to-many relationship and whereingenerating the control instructions further comprises: identifying,based on the received venue programming schedule and based on the venuesettings, one or more media source devices among the plurality of mediasource devices and one or more presentation devices among the pluralityof presentation devices that are suitable for outputting the particularscheduled media content item identified in the venue programmingschedule during a particular respective time period; for each of theidentified one or more media source devices, defining respective mediasource device control parameters for transmission to a respective mediasource device, wherein the media source control parameters include oneor more of: a channel setting and a channel change command; for each ofthe identified one or more presentation devices, defining respectivepresentation device control parameters that are transmitted to arespective presentation device, wherein the presentation device controlparameters define a source setting that causes the particularpresentation device to output media content items provided by at leastone of the identified one or more media source devices.
 12. The methodof claim 11, wherein the media devices include a matrix switch andwherein the plurality of presentation devices are indirectly connectedto the plurality of media source devices via the matrix switch, andwherein generating the command instructions comprises: determining,based on the venue settings and the identified one or more media sourcedevices and the identified one or more presentation devices, matrixswitch routing settings for routing the media content items provided bythe identified one or more media source devices to the identified one ormore presentation devices.
 13. The method of claim 6, wherein aparticular presentation device is connected to a plurality of mediasource devices in a one-to-many relationship and wherein generating thecontrol instructions further comprises: identifying, based on thereceived venue programming schedule and based on the venue settings, aparticular media source device among the plurality of media sourcedevices that is suitable for outputting the particular scheduled mediacontent item identified in the venue programming schedule during aparticular respective time period; defining media source controlparameters that are transmitted to the particular media source device,wherein the media source control parameters include one or more of: achannel setting and a channel change command; defining, based on theidentified one or more media sources and venue settings concerning theconnectivity between the plurality of media source devices and theparticular presentation device, presentation device control parametersthat are transmitted to the particular presentation device, wherein thepresentation device control parameters include one or more of: a sourcesetting, an audio volume setting and a closed caption instruction. 14.The method of claim 6, wherein at least a portion of the venue settingsare stored by one or more of the venue control module and the schedulemanagement server, and wherein the control instructions are generated byone or more of the venue control module and the schedule managementserver.
 15. The method of claim 6, further comprising: reporting, by thevenue control module to the schedule management server, a status of theone or more media source devices and the one or more presentationdevices at the venue relating to presentation of a particular mediacontent item at the venue; and dynamically updating, by the schedulemanagement server based on the reported status, the venue programmingschedule to reflect the presentation of the particular media contentitem.
 16. The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving one ormore of the venue settings at the venue control module from a venue userdevice, and wherein the venue settings are stored by the venue controlmodule in a storage medium; and receiving, at least a portion of thevenue data at the schedule management server from one or more of thevenue user device and the venue control module.
 17. The method of claim1, the maintaining step comprises: receiving, at the schedule managementserver from a user computing device over a communication network, ascheduling request that requests presentation of a media content item atthe venue during a respective time period; verifying, based on the venueprogramming schedule and the venue data, that at least one of the one ormore media source devices is available to facilitate presentation of therequested media content item at the venue during the respective timeperiod; and based on the verification of the requested media contentitem, updating the venue programming schedule to include the mediacontent item requested for presentation at the venue during therespective time period.
 18. The method of claim 1, wherein the venuecontrol module is one or more of: a device and a software moduleexecuted by one or more of the media devices.
 19. The method of claim 1,wherein the venue control module is in communication connection with oneor more of the media devices.
 20. The method of claim 1, wherein thevenue control module is one or more of located at the venue or remotelylocated.
 21. A system for scheduling and controlling the presentation ofmedia content at a venue having one or more of: one or more mediadevices including media presentation devices and one or more mediasource devices, wherein the one or more media presentation devices areconfigured to receive media content from a respective media source, thesystem comprising: a schedule management server comprising: a processor,a non-transitory computer readable storage medium and one or moresoftware modules in the form of encoded instructions that are executableby the processor, the software modules including: a communicationsmodule that configures the schedule management server to receiveelectronic programming data and venue data from one or more remotecomputing devices over a communications network, wherein the electronicprogramming data includes a list of media content items that areavailable for presentation at the venue, a respective media source andany respective time-periods for each of the media content items, andwherein the venue data includes information identifying the one or moremedia source devices, a scheduling module that configures the schedulemanagement server to maintain, based on the electronic programming dataand the venue data, a venue programming schedule identifying scheduledmedia content items for presentation at the venue during respective timeperiods, and a content change manager that configures the schedulemanagement server to transmit content change instructions based on thevenue programming schedule over the communication network to a venue;and a venue control module for automatically coordinating the output ofthe scheduled media content items at the venue during respective timeperiods according to the venue programming schedule, wherein the venuecontrol module is configured to communicate with one or more of themedia devices at the venue and communicate with the schedule managementserver, and wherein the venue control module is further configured to:maintain, in a storage medium, venue settings concerning a configurationof the media devices at the venue, generate, according to the receivedcontent change instructions and the venue settings, control instructionsthat transition one or more of the media devices to a respective statethat is suitable for presenting a particular scheduled media contentitem at the venue at a respective execution time, and transmit thecontrol instructions to one or more of the media devices over one ormore of: the venue network, a communications network, a cable-basedcommunications channel, a satellite-based communications channel, and aradio-based communications channel.
 22. The system of claim 21, whereinthe venue control module is one or more of: a device including aprocessor, a local storage medium and a communications interface, and asoftware-based module that is executing in at least one of the mediadevices.
 23. The system of claim 21, wherein the venue control module isconfigured to: receive the content change instructions from the contentchange manager over a communications network connection, convert thecontent change instructions into control instructions having a formatthat is executable by the one or more media devices, and transmit thecontrol instructions to the one or more of the media devices over one ormore of: the venue network, a communications network, a cable-basedcommunications channel, a satellite-based communications channel, and aradio-based communications channel, whereby the venue control moduleenables the content change instructions that are received over thecommunications network to be implemented by the one or more mediadevices.
 24. The system of claim 21, wherein the venue data stored bythe schedule management server comprises one or more of: access rightsthat control which media content items are available for presentation atthe venue, venue-defined limitations relating to the availability ofmedia content items for presentation at the venue, information usable tomap connectivity between the one or more media source devices and theone or more presentation devices within the venue, and specificationsfor one or more of the media devices at the venue; and wherein the venuesettings include one or more of: specifications for the one or moremedia source devices, specifications for the respective media sourcesthat are accessible using the one or more media source devices,specifications for the one or more presentation devices, venue networkspecifications, and information describing the connectivity between eachof the one or more media source devices and the one or more presentationdevices.
 25. The system of claim 21, wherein the venue control module isconfigured to generate the control instructions by: identifying based onthe control instructions, a particular media source device for providinga particular scheduled media content item to a presentation deviceduring a particular respective time period; and defusing one or morecontrol parameters that cause the particular media source device to, ata prescribed execution time, receive the particular media content itemfrom the respective media source and provide the particular mediacontent item to the presentation device, wherein the prescribedexecution time corresponds to the respective time period.
 26. The systemof claim 25, wherein the venue control module is further configured togenerate the control instructions by: identifying, based on the venuesettings and the control instructions, a particular presentation devicethat is available for outputting the particular scheduled media contentitem during the particular respective time period; and defining one ormore control parameters that cause the particular presentation device totransition to an operational state that is suitable for outputting theparticular scheduled media content provided by the particular mediasource device.
 27. The system of claim 26, wherein the controlparameters include one or more of: media source device tuning settings,routing settings for a network switch connected to the venue network,audio source selection settings for a presentation device, media sourceselection settings for a presentation device, audio volume settings fora presentation device; and wherein the control instructions aregenerated for specific media devices among the plurality of mediadevices.
 28. The system of claim 26, wherein the media devices include amatrix switch and wherein a plurality of presentation devices areindirectly connected to a plurality of media source devices via thematrix switch, and wherein the venue control module is furtherconfigured to: identify the one or more media source devices and the oneor more presentation devices based on specifications for the matrixswitch; and define, based on specifications for the matrix switch,matrix switch routing settings for routing the media content itemsprovided by the identified one or more media source devices to theidentified one or more presentation devices.
 29. The system of claim 21,wherein the communications module configures the schedule managementserver to receive, from a user computing device over the communicationsnetwork, a scheduling request that requests presentation of a mediacontent item at the venue during a respective time period; and whereinthe scheduling module further configures the schedule management serverto verify, according to the venue programming schedule and the venuedata, that at least one of the one or more media source devices isavailable to facilitate presentation of the requested media content itemat the venue during the respective time period, and update the venueprogramming schedule to include the requested media content item basedon the verification.
 30. The system of claim 21, wherein the venuecontrol module is configured to report to the schedule managementserver, a status of the one or more media source devices and the one ormore presentation devices at the venue relating to presentation of aparticular media content item at the venue; and wherein the schedulingmodule further configures the schedule management server to, based onthe reported status, dynamically update the venue programming scheduleto reflect the presentation of the particular media content item and atleast the status of the one or more media source devices.